Rikkaidai High
by Its'Noelle'not'Nole'5327
Summary: 2 years after that defeat at Nationals, the Rikkai regulars have moved onto high school. As far as anyone can tell, everything seems to be the same, but totally different. Warning: this story contains ocs. Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis
1. We must start at the beginning

**_Rikkaidai High_**

_Things were normal as could be. At least, as normal as they got for Rikkaidai. It had been 2 years since the fall of the Rikkaidai Middle School tennis club, and the regulars had moved on to high school. Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi were still head honchos, even as second years. As for Marui, Jackal, Yangyuu, and Niou, they had worked their entire first year, to become regulars as second years. And Kirihara, well, he was working on it too. But high school proved to be alot more different middle school._

* * *

**Chapter 1 We must start at the beginning (where else do you want me to start?)**

Nakikora walked up the steps to the front door.

Suzuki Nakikora was a light brown haired girl with shocking hazel eyes, sometimes not visible when her bangs got in the way. She had and average height and an average weight with a few eye-catching curves thrown in. She could be very subtle, or very loud depending on what mood you threw her in. Nakikora held and dresses in contempt and never wore makeup unless it was an extreme circumstance. Clean and honest faces always got the benefit of the doubt is what she thought.

But she wasn't thinking about dresses or makeup at the moment. On this Monday morning she had a task at hand.

She went up the stairs knocked three times on the door, even though she knew it would do no good. No one came to the door. She sighed. She picked up a few stray pebbles and began to throw them at the window high above the door.

ping! ping! "Oy! Niou! Wake up! It's time for school."

There was no response.

"Come on! You know your mom will be angry if she comes home and finds you still here!"

Still nothing.

"Masaharu, get your sorry butt out of bed or so help me I'll go in there and throw a bucket of ice water on you!"

A silver headed figure appeared at the window. The window opened and Niou popped out of the window in his white shirt and boxers.

"You wouldn't dare," Niou smiled slyly.

"Oh?" she said innocently, "and how's that?"

"The door's locked and you don't have a key," he pointed out.

"Your mom told me where the spare key is and where the buckets are as well," she retorted.

"If you came in my room and poured it on me," he smiled menacingly, "I would pull out both your cartilage piercing and your ear studs out of your ears so fast you wouldn't have time to bleed."

"Not if I tied you to the bed first."

"Right," he rolled his eyes, "assuming you had a rope AND that you know how to tie it BUT you want me to go get ready for school. How well thought out. I win this fight, Kiko."

He shut the window. She stared at the window for a moment.

"If you don't get up," she threatened, "I'll tell your mom about the tattoo."

There was silence for a moment. Then he opened the window again.

"You wouldn't dare."

She looked at him.

"Are you actually tell THIS girl, that I wouldn't dare do something? I thought you knew me better than that Masaharu-kun."

Niou looked at her for a moment. Then he started to grin. She had won this round.

"All right, all right," he put his hands in the air, "I'll get ready. Since you know where the house key is, come sit inside for a few minutes."

He shut the window for the last time and Nakikora took the house key from under the fake potted plant and opened the door. She went into the kitchen and pulled out two coffee mugs and began making some coffee. It was a small house, but considering only Niou and his mom lived here, it wasn't a big deal.

Nakikora had known Niou ever since grade school when he had replaced her gummi worms with real ones at lunch. In return, the next day she had filled his water cup with mud and convinced him it was chocolate milk. They had become best friends ever since. In terms of size, they were about the same height except he beat her by half an inch, not that it mattered to them.

Not much mattered to them.

They liked to poke fun at each other and called each other names and sometimes help each other out on a good prank. Niou always had the upper hand on pranks and quick wit, but when it came to observations, Nakikora had Niou beat out. But out of all the things they had in common, their backgrounds, is what strengthened their friendship the most.

The coffee maker chimed and Nakikora poured some coffee into her cup. She added one sugar and slight creamer and took a sip. Just the way she liked it. Niou came charging down the stairs with his tennis bag half on and still tying the uniform of his tie.

"Oh, don't bother rushing," she said calmly, "you're five minutes quicker than I expected and we still have another ten minutes after that before we need to leave."

"Then why did you bother do wake me up this early?" he grumbled.

"One, you almost never wake up on time," she sipped from her cup, "two, we never get five minutes to sit around and three, you know you love my coffee."

He shook his head and poured a cup and sat down at the table. He added two sugars and took a sip. He did love her coffee. He sat back in his chair.

"So how's the old man doing?" he asked casually.

"Same as ever," she replied, unchanged.

"You mean drunk as ever?" he raised his eyebrows.

She gave him a dark look and continued nursing her coffee. Talking about her father's drinking habits was usually taboo.

"Thought so," he smirked, "you always wake me up early on Monday just to get out of the house."

"It's not a big deal," she shrugged it off, " so what if he get's drunk on weekends? He works hard to earn the pay."

"Nakikora," he stared at her, "it's just you and your dad at that house. Money goes to the bills and food then the rest is booze money. You need to get him in a program."

She set the mug down.

"I know," she sighed, "but I can't seem to budge him. I'll just deal with it how I usually do. Listen to me jabbering on. Let's go to school."

They put the coffee mugs in the sink and headed out the door. Niou locked it and they began walking down the street.

"You know that tattoo remark is gonna cost you, Cheeko," He poked his finger in her face.

"Don't all my remarks cost me?", she grumbled, swatting his hand, "And don't call me Cheeko."

"Oh, her name is Nakikora, some call her Kiko," he sang, "but to me, her name will always be Cheeko."

He put his arm around her so she couldn't escape and he sang noisily down the street while people who passed by stared. She turned deeper shades of red by the minute.

"Had enough?" he smiled viciously.

"Y-yes," she muttered.

"Then promise me you'll never tell my mom about the tattoo," he said sweetly.

"Sorry I don't make promises with the devil," she glared at him with contempt.

"Ah, well, how about a few more lines to that song, or perhaps change your name to Butt Cheeko?"

She glowered at him for a moment.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Ah," Niou said in mock surprise, "are you actually telling THIS guy that I wouldn't dare do something? I thought you knew me better than that, Cheeko-chan."

She blinked at him. He laughed. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Some day I will one up you," she vowed sheepishly.

He let go of her.

"You? One up the Trickster? Ha!" he scoffed, "I taught you the ways of the trickster and you have yet to surpass me."

"Oh well, there will always be dreams," she sighed, "speaking of dreams, how's tennis coming along?"

"It's actually wonderful today considering there's no morning practice," said Niou thoughtfully.

"Yours too? We aren't having morning girls' practice today either. I wonder why they cut it this morning..."

"Haven't you heard?"

Both Niou and Nakikora looked behind them to see Yagyuu and Kirihara walking behind them.

"The girls court is being renovated and the school was talking about both teams sharing the courts," explained Akaya

"Thats pretty interesting brat, but I don't think that is going to sit too well with Sanada," Niou pointed out.

"It didn't," Yagyuu straightened his glasses, "he was furious. So today Yukimura and Sanada are meeting with the girls' captian and the principal to talk out a solution. The decision will be announced today at afternoon practice."

"This is going to suck," groaned Niou, "no matter how it ends Sanada is going to be TARUNDORUing our butts all over the place."

"Maybe we could play the girls in matches," suggested Kirihara.

"Great idea brat," snorted Niou, "if they wanted us to whip up on weak sauce tennis players every day we would be playing middles schoolers."

Nakikora raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

"We won't know anything till this afternoon," Yagyuu said simply.

And that, was that.

The lunchbell rang and Marui streched his arms. He usually fell asleep in history and the bell was his alarm clock. He hopped out of desk and went off to find Jackal. He spotted him paying for a lunch at the counter.

"Oy! Jackal!" Marui popped a gum bubble.

"Hey Bunta, wanna go find a table?"

They walked around the cafeteria until they saw a table, where Nakikora was opening her lunch, and Yagyuu was reading a book. Marui spied her lunch, which consisted of sushi rolls and another package with small, homemade cakes.

"Ahhh," Marui sighed feasting his eyes on the cakes.

Do you believe in sharing?" Marui said seriously.

"No, I believe in God" said Nakikora with a grave tone, "but the only reason I bake is to share."

Marui and Jackal helped themselves to a cake while Yagyuu continued reading his book.

"Do you ever stop studying?" Jackal shook his head.

"Not if I can help it," he said, not glancing up from his book.

"What in the world would make you want to study during lunch hour?" Marui wondered, licking at the icing.

"I need something to tune them out," he pointed at a grinning Niou weaving his way through tables with Kirihara chasing after him.

"Come on, give it back!" whined Kirihara.

"No way," smirked Niou, "I haven't had my morning laugh yet."

"Yo brat!" called Marui, "what did he take from you?"

"Something of mine worth value," snarled Kirihara.

"By that," grinned Niou pulling a piece of paper from his pocket, "he means a love letter from a fangirl."

"That has value?" sniffed Marui, "Che, I get one of those a week."

"That's the thing," said Niou with a devious smile, "baby boy here writes back and forth to this one."

The table looked around with intrest. Yagyuu just continued to read his book.

"Ah?" said Jackal, "who are they from?"

"I don't know," said Kirihara with a look of defeat, "it's always signed 'your secred admirer'."

"You have a secret admirer?" Nakikora took the note from Niou and read it carefully.

Niou swiped one of her cakes and took a bite.

"Mmmmmm, wonderful as ever, Kiko-chan. But you need to lighten up on the wasabi, it makes for a bad cake."

"I know," she said, still reading the letter, "last time I put too much in it and you had a stomachache, poor boy."

"Yeah," he shook his head dejectedly, "and that was your good batch."

She paused from the letter and gave him a scowl, which he returned with a leering 'puri', and concluded reading the note.

"Well, whoever it is," she handed the note to Akaya, "is probably a lefty."

"Lefty?"

"There are smudge marks on the note," Niou pulled up his uniform sleeve to reveal graphite on his left hand. "When someone writes with their left hand they usually get smudges on the paper. Nakikora and I are left-handed."

They all stared at Nakikora like she had just pleaded guilty on a capital charge murder.

"Don't look at me," she said crossly, "I don't write notes to younger students."

"Kirihara, are you sure you aren't being duped by someone?" asked Jackal.

Jackal glanced at Niou who grinned back.

"I wish I had thought of it," said Niou wistfully, "making the brat think someone actually likes him, genus!"

"No I'm pretty sure I'm not, by him at least," Kirihara tried.

He took one of Nakikora's cakes and glanced at it.

"I always find it tucked into my stuff after English class. Does this really have wasabi in it?"

Nakikora facepalmed herself while Marui and Niou laughed.

"So we probably we have a first year in your English class, probably a left handed girl," Jackal said thoughtfully, ignoring the wasabi comment.

"Wait a minute," Yagyuu looked up from his book, "are you positive it's a girl?"

Everyone looked at him. No one thought he had been paying attention.

"No," said Nakikora slowly, "But for Kirihara-kun's sake I hope it is."

"Sorry brat," Marui threw an arm around Akaya, "you're still too young for yaoi."

"Yaoi?" said a confused Kirihara, "what's a yaoi, senpai?"

"Well," started Niou, "yaoi is when-nph!"

Nakikora had clamped her hand firmly over Niou's mouth. She shook her head.

"It's something you can learn about later in life, Akaya" Yagyuu finished.

The gentleman had redeemed himself.

Niou pulled Nakikora's hand away and gave her a dirty look. She returned it with a look of equal dirt.

"Anyways," said Jackal, turning his attention back to Kirihara, "what are you going to do about the letters?"

Kirihara shrugged, "I guess I'll just keep writin-ach!"

Marui had clapped him on the head.

"What do ya know?" Marui beamed, "this little guy actually has perserevance off the tennis court."

While Kirihara tried to pry Marui off his head, Yanagi walked up to the table.

"Yanagi," Yagyuu greeted, "what brings you here?"

"I have some news," Yangai started, "Yukimura has requested that I inform you that before practice begins, there will be a meeting with the guy and girl tennis teams on the subject of the tennis courts."

"Have you heard anything abouth that decision?" asked Jackal.

Yanagi shook his head, "I asked Seiichi but he insisted that the decision be announced to everyone at the same time... though there's a 68% percent chance no one is going to like it."

"I already don't like it," smirked Niou, "that means I have to listen to a boring speech about tennis team rights while having to be near a Butt Cheeko."

Everyone gave Niou a wierd look except Nakikora, who suddenly became interested in Yagyuu's book.

* * *

That's the end of Chapter one! I don't know when I'm going to have time to write the next chapter but it's probably going to be about the fated tennis practice.

Please send me feedback and tell me what you think about the story line.


	2. Sanada does not share well with others

Sorry it took so long to post. It's kind of one of those fill in the blank time stories so its not really funny. I will be naming some of the girls' team with last names first (going for authentic). Thanks for waiting.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own prince of tennis

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**Chapter Two: Sanada does not share well with others**

Yagyuu walked into the changing room and began to pull his uniform out of his bag. Niou and Marui walked into the room as well.

"Yo," Niou called.

Yagyuu acknowleged his greeting. The others began changing.

"I bet I should just go out like this," a shirtless Marui stared into the mirror, flexing his muscles, "you know, give those girls something to look at."

Niou poked Marui in the stomach. It gave a tiny wobble.

"Sorry Marui," Niou shook his head, "nobody wants to see your rolls of fat."

"They are not rolls of fat," he said indignantly, "just unused muscle."

"Then why does your muscle jiggle when I poke it?"

"It does not!"

Niou then repeatedly poked it and watched his stomach wobble uncontrollably.

Marui turned red and slid his shirt back on. He flipped Niou the bird, who smirked at the gesture. Jackal sighed and pretended he never heard a thing. Yagyuu straightened his glasses as if the whole conversation was undignified, but it was only Niou could see that the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned.

Niou and Yagyuu walked out of the room and looked around. Girls and guys were scattered around the main tennis court with rackets in hand. Everyone was in small groups discussing what they though was going to happen.

"How do you think this is going to turn out?" Niou asked Yagyuu.

"Well, the captian of the girls team, Yamamoto Nori, is very strong willed," Yagyuu studied his racket. "I would assume that she was going to get all she could for her team."

Niou snorted. "Well since this IS the girls' team they're going to need all the help they can get."

A few of the girls nearby glared at Niou. He pretended not to notice them.

"I'm afraid you are underestimating them where their skills are concerned," Yagyuu looked at him carefully. "They haven't lost their tournaments this year. I've never known you to trash talk in such a way."

"I only do it to get a reaction," he smiled mischeviously, "especially from these girls. You of all people should know that."

The conversation would have continued, but it was stopped short when the heads of teams called for their attention.

The extra noise died down and everyone gathered around the captians to listen in.

"Due to the wishes of the school," Yukimura began, "the tennis courts will be split between our teams according to the days of the week so that neither practice will have conflicting interference."

A murmur went through the crowd.

"The girls," the other captian called, "will have Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings as well as Tuesday and Thursday afternoons."

"The guys," Yukimura continued, "will practice on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons."

"But don't think that we will not be having practice," warned Sanada, "there will be harsh conditioning on the other days."

"Same goes for the girls," Yamamoto ordered.

There was a collective groan that rippled through the mass.

"And because of undefinable circumstances," Yukimura finished, "we will be sharing the courts ONLY for today."

An excited murmur went through the crowd this time.

"Anything else Yamamoto-san?" Yukimura asked.

"That's it. Regulars on this court and everyone else on the other two courts," clapped the girls captian. "Everyone get to work."

Sanada and Yukimura stood on the tennis courts watching the students mull to their appointed courts. The members weaved their way in and out of the tennis courts. He couldn't believe that they were soon going to have to give up part of this to the girls. He scowled.

"Don't look so cheerful Genichirou," Yukimura smiled, "you're going to scare away everybody."

"I just don't see the point in sharing the courts when they could just condition," he muttered. _They need it_.

"Yamamoto-san only wants the best for her girls, you know that. That's why the their courts are being remodled. And as long as she wants to train on these courts the school is going to allow her."

_That she-captian could still leave us out of it_, he thought. _Or maybe I could force her into leaving them alone._ (very unlike him, but desperate times call for desperate measures)

The regulars lined the court with boys on one side of the net and girls on the other. Sanada and the girls' captian were at the net facing their teams.

"Okay, you know the drill, we'll be using half court today so lets line up ladies," Yamamoto Nori ordered.

Sanada began instructing the guys as well. The teams began their rallying drills.

"Use a stronger backhand, Aoki," Yamamoto ordered.

"Better form Marui," Sanada commented, "then you won't have to waste your energy."

"Get to the ball Kouda!"

"Lighter steps Jackal, it will make your reaction time quicker!" Sanada shouted.

"Loosen your grip on the racket Hara, it's too tight."

"Firm up your grip Yagyuu!"

Yamamoto clenched her fists till they turned white. The players looked at each other. Sanada seemed to be defying Captian Yamamoto's orders. They waited for the girls' captian to give Sanada a reaction, but none seemed to come.

"I never knew fukubucho was good at playing mind games," Marui whispered.

"He's not," Yanagi stated, "but he knows what it feels like when your orders are completely overuled."

"I have to give him credit for this one," Niou smirked, "who knew that Sanada could make you pissed for reasons other than running laps and being slapped to death?"

"Suzuki! Approach the ball!"

"Wait for the right moment Niou!"

"Quicker!"

"Slow it down a bit!"

"Stop if it doesn't come!"

"TARUNDORU!"

"Do you have something to say to me?" Yakamura whipped around.

The regulars stopped their drills and glanced up.

"According to the school and to Yukimura," said Sanada, "I have nothing to say to you."

"Well, you seem to be critizing my methods," she said with a glare.

"The only methods that can be critizied, are the ones that should not be on a tennis court," Sanada said with a fierce expression.

Her eyes widened with anger.

"I find it hard to believe my methods are so inferior," she gritted her teeth, "when yours so blatantly made you lose your 3rd year middle school nationals, and at the top of your middle school game."

Sanada stiffened. He hadn't expected retorts, and painful ones at that. He had expected her to run off in tears or something; thats what all girls did.

"I don't see you running off and winning consecutive championships," he stared at her.

"Oh that's what I plan to do," she said quietly, "but I don't need help from other to do it."

Yukimura walked up to the bickering pair to try to sort it out.

"Now, now, Nori," smiled Yukimura, "why don't we all take this in stride and go back to our drills."

Yukimura flashed one of his award winning smiles at her, but this made her even angrier.

"Don't think you have any room to talk either," she turned on him, "losing to a first year brat after coming back in full force is shameful. I would expect more out of the 'Child of God'."

Yukimura's smile had faltered and had been replaced by a sadistic one filled with hate. That was one loss he never wanted to remember again. The dark aura had not gone unnoticed by the other regulars, who proceeded to back to the fencing in fear. It was common knowledge in the tennis clubs that the last time someone had insulted Yukimura had gone missing for a week and been found brutally beaten in an alley. Not that anyone could prove anything.

"Alright," Yukimura said with an icy expression, "we never set agreement on weekend practices so why don't we have a tennis game for them? Best of five matches?"

Yamamoto thought for a moment. The regulars looked at each other nervously. The captains had finally snapped and were at odds with each other. This was not going to end well.

"She's being amazingly calm challenging them like that," Marui said nervously.

"Yamamoto must have alot of guts," Jackal said thoughtfully, "to take Yukimura and Sanada head on."

"More like stupidity," Niou muttered.

"Okay," Nori finally replied, "best of five matches. Just like the tournaments?" she waited for the answer.

"Just like the tournaments," Yukimura smiled with malice.

Everyone was gathering around the courts as Doubles 2 was about to begin. The spectators were divided with boys on one side and girls on the other. It would have been more mixed since they were classmates, but at this point the captians had instated a "no fraternizing with the enemy or do laps till you wish you were never born" policy, so the teams stuck to their own sides.

"Do you have the order for the matches?" Kirihara asked Yanagi.

"I have it right here," he waved the list.

The regulars gathered around.

"Doubles 2 is Marui and Jackal against Takeuchi Hana and Kouda Suzume," he gestured to the girl pair warming up on the court.

Marui gave a thumbs up and Jackal nodded.

"Next, Doubles one with Niou and Yagyuu."

"Alright!" Niou slapped Yagyuu on the back.

Surprised at the force of the slap, Yagyuu caught his glasses in midair before they fell to the ground. Niou caught Yagyuu's withering look before he had put on his glasses and returned it with a 'puri'.

"Your opponent," Yanagi continued, "will be Nakamura Mayumi and Suzuki Nakikora."

"Nakikora-chan?" Yagyuu mused, "this will be interesting."

"You know Suzuki on first name terms?" Marui looked stunned.

"Don't you?"

Marui shook his head.

"Well I have known her almost as long as Niou-kun," he shrugged.

Niou had said nothing. But the devilish grin on his face spoke volumes.

"Singles 3 will by myself," Yanagi continued, "Doubles 2 will be Sanada, and Doubles 1 will be Yukimura."

"What about the 3rd year?" asked Kirihara.

Although there were many 3rd years in the high school club, the regulars had consisted of 2nd years and one 3rd year. He was fairly good, but nothing compared to the ex-middle schoolers. The 3rd year was the technical captian for all tournament purposes, but everyone knew the real captain had always been Yukimura.

Yanagi shrugged, "Seiichi said something about doing this match right and winning unanimously?"

Everyone looked at the third year who was sittin a few benches down. He stared at the tennis court looking unphased.

"He's used to it," Yagyuu whispered to Kirihara.

"What about the girls?" Jackal asked Yanagi.

Yanagi scanned the sheet

"Singles 3 will be Hara Arisu, Singles 2 Aoki Makio, and Singles 1 Yamamoto Nori."

"Captains going head to head..." Kirihara pondered

Marui rolled his eyes.

"What a shocker. But now that we know the lineup," Marui cracked his knuckles, "let's get this thing started."

Marui and Jackal walked onto the court. Suzume and Hana stood at the net waiting for them. Marui began to tie his shoes and Jackal went to the net and shook the black haired girl's hand.

"I'm Suzume Kouda," she smiled. Her dark brown eyes twinkled.

"Nice to meet you," he nodded politely.

"Oy! Jackal!," called Marui, "don't go fresh on me, we have to beat these girls not take them out for tea."

"Says the guy chewing gum in the middle of a tennis match," Hana raised her eyebrows. "And HE is being fresh?"

Her long dark brown ponytail swayed in the wind. Marui stared at his shoes.

"Stamina reasons," he mumbled.

"Uh huh," she looked at him.

"Go easy on them Takeuchi," Suzume nudged Hana.

Hana looked at her.

"I'll 'go easy' on them AFTER we beat them Kouda," she folded her arms, "I prefer NOT to have to entertain the thought of going through Bucho's wrath because we made ourselves look bad."

"We have to be careful too," Jackal whispered to Marui, "I heard Sanada's not handing out punishments for loss, but Yukimura."

Marui paled.

"Dear Lord save us now."

The teams went silent as the referee called the match.

"Doubles 2. Suzume/Hana pair against Mauri/Jackal pair! Hana to serve."

Hana gripped the ball. She threw it in the air to begin the match for the courts.

"Here we go."

* * *

That's the end of Chapter 2. Sorry if the tennis tecnique isn't correct, I tried to make it vague enough where it sounded right. I'm also trying to put less background info to make it fit with the actual story more. Thank you for your patience with the story.

The next one will have the tennis games in it.

Please comment and tell me what you think of this one.

Thanks you guys! :)


	3. Barbie from Hell

This chapter was ridiculously long and it took forever to get in the computer. It's mostly describing the tennis games and whatnot. enjoy

disclaimer: I do not own prince of tennis or any other name brand thing that graces this world's prescence.

* * *

**Chapter 3 Barbie from Hell**

**"**Here we go."

The ball was tossed and Hana hit it.

"Power!" Marui called as he hit it.

"I know, right?" Hana hit it back.

The rally continued until Marui hit his tightwalk volley.

"Be awed by my genius," he grinned as the ball started falling.

"Oh, I'm awed," Suzume said brightly as she dived and hit a chance ball over the net.

Jackal came down with a smash as Hana instantly returned it to the corner.

"15-0"

They were in trouble.

The game ended 7 games to 5 with the girls cheering loudly. The players walked to the net, covered in sweat.

"Nice game," Jackal smiled.

"You too," Suzume nodded.

Marui said nothing. He blew a gum bubble.

"You know," Hana sighed, "you guys would have beaten us if you had taken off your wrist weights."

The gum burst. Marui blinked. They had noticed?

"We couldn't," he whispered, "Sanada would have killed us."

She shook her head.

"You looked weaker being beaten by us rather than just taking your weights off."

Marui shrugged.

"We'll just deal with it."

And they did. But Yukimura wasn't happy. He rubbed his chin in thought.

"We can't do anything about the loss," Yukimura said carefully, "so we will just have to take it in stride."

He shook his head. Jackal and Marui looked at each other. Were they getting off easy?

"But I'll have Renji make you two special training menus to follow until further notice," Yukimura said brightly.

Their hearts sank. The slap of doom was looking really good right now. They were going to regret this loss.

**ON THE GIRLS SIDE:**

"Good job girls," Yamamoto nodded."You've proved that you can hang with the best of them."

The pair beamed at each other and high fived. A blonde girl walked up to where the captian was talking to them and looked them down with her pale blue eyes.

"Vice captian Hara?" Suzume said carefully.

"Suzume, your speed was slow and you were not getting to the ball fast enough," she said in a bored voice, "I expect 100 laps tomorrow with extra weights."

"What?"

Suzume trembled slightly.

"Thats not fair!" Hana said indignantly, putting an arm around Suzume. "Kouda-chan was getting to balls faster than I was."

Hana was not afraid of laps.

"Oh?" she said coldly, "your power was weak today so I guess you'll have to do 20 sets of racket swings with extra weights."

This silenced Hana. Her pride and joy had been offended

"Arisu," the captian looked at her with a hard expression, "I'll decide what punishments are necessary."

"But Nori-san," Hara said with her eyes wide, "you have so many responsibilites as captian I think I should help out."

She gave a little laugh and walked back to her seat. Yamamoto stared holes through her. She turned back to her players.

"I'm not going to make you do those," she said quietly.

"No," Hana stopped her, "Then she will tell her dad to call off construction. We will do it for the courts."

Suzume nodded, "we won't let her win this battle."

Yamamoto let out a small chuckle.

"I can always depend on you two."

Doubles 1 walked onto the court and approached the net. Niou walked to Nakikora and gripped her hand.

"Good luck," he smirked.

"Break a leg," she grinned.

They shook each others hand and gripped tighter and tighter until their hands turned purple.

"You know you're breaking each others' right hand," Yagyuu pointed out, "right?"

They looked at their hands with dumbfoundedness. Then slowly let go.

"Shut up," Niou muttered.

Yagyuu stared at him for a moment, then turned to the other girl. She had a sea of light brown hair that ended at her waist, with sparkling blue eyes and a soft smile.

"Hello," she giggled.

Yagyuu was in a state of shock. His pulse was beginning to race and he felt his palms go sweaty. What was this? a gentleman did not feel such emotions. He was just going to have to cover it with his best gentleman-like mask.

Niou and Nakikora glanced at each other. This was a first.

"Hello," Yagyuu said cordially, "my name is Yagyuu Hiroshi."

He took her hand and shook it delicately. He felt his heart flip just from touching her soft skin.

_Stop it Hiroshi, stop it._

"To whom do I owe this pleasureable tennis game?"

"Mayumi," she spoke softly, "Nakamura Mayumi."

Niou and Nakikora blanched. It was so drippy and annoying, the way they were going at each other. Niou grabbed Yagyuu's arm and dragged him to the middle of the court.

"Hey!"

"Play prince charming with her AFTER the tennis game," Niou muttered.

Yagyuu gave him a dark look and straightened his glasses and walked to his spot on the tennis court.

"Mayumi-chan," Nakikora touched Nakamura's arm, "it's great you are making friends with Yagyuu, but can you save the role-play for later?"

"Oh, sorry Kiko-chan," Mayumi blushed.

Nakikora patted her on the shoulder and walked to her postion in the back.

The tennis match began.

"Niou/Yagyuu vs Suzuki/Nakamura, Niou to serve."

The ball was tossed.

"Ha!" He hit it to the back guard.

"Not good enough!" Nakikora hit it to the other side.

Niou returned it again and Mayumi went up to the net for a poach.

"B-beautiful stroke," Yagyuu called. _Why am I saying this? I mean it but why am I saying it? Well, I do want to be nice to her._

"Really?" she asked and stopped to smile at Yagyuu.

"Ach!" Nakikora ran after the ball that could have been easily Mayumi's.

Yagyuu went after the ball and shot it back down the court.

"Wow! That was great!" Mayumi smiled.

Nakikora thought she was going to gag. She shot the ball down the middle.

"You think so?"

Yagyuu would have gone for the ball but was now intrested in the comment. Niou ran for the ball, but wasn't fast enough.

"15-0"

Niou glared at his partner, who, happened to be too busy to notice. Normally he would have found the situation hilarious, but for the fact that it was costing them the game.

"20-21. Suzuki to serve."

The game had gone on for almost an hour. Neither Niou nor Nakikora was willing to admit defeat, therefore bringing them into a tie break. Sweat was pouring out from their bodies and breathing was ragged, while Mayumi and Yagyuu were barely showing signs of being able to perspire. The sun was setting and almost hidden by their surroundings.

"It's kind of hot out here," Mayumi glanced at the sun, "don't you think?"

Nakikora gave her the dirtiest of glares she could muster and served the ball.

"Fault!"

Nakikora took a sharp intake of air. She was reaching her limit. She gave herself a few seconds to calm down and served again. Yagyuu went for the ball and hit it cross court.

"Beautiful!" Mayumi gasped.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY?" Niou and Nakikora yellled at them.

Nakikora knew her time was up and gave every ounce of power she had left to this last ball. Niou charged the ball and swung with all his might, but the racket flew out of his hand and went sliding down the court. Niou had reached his limit as well.

"21 all"

Nakikora gave a weak smile.

Nakikora felt her knees wobbling and tried to take a few steps. She put her foot out, but her legs would not respond and she fell to her knees and collasped on the ground.

Niou tried to hide the concern in his eyes as he went to pick up his racket. His muscles wouldn't obey. Niou kept trying to get a grip on his racket but his arm gave no put his arm on Niou's other shoulder.

"I think you're out too," he said gently.

"Oh NOW you decide to be observant," Niou muttered angrily.

"Match is inconclusive due to injuries," the ref called.

Mayumi helped Nakikora to her feet and dragged her to a bench on the side of the courts.

"I'll get you and ice pack," Mayumi ran off.

Nakikora layed back on the bench and closed her eyes. She took deep breaths to try to push the pain out of her mind. It wasn't working.

"My, my, someone is weak-kneed."

Nakikora opened her eyes. Arisu was standing in front of her with a smirk on her face.

"Go bother someone else," Nakikora muttered.

"And has stamina issues," she said with a wide-eyed smile. "We'll fix that in the next practices," she commented.

She walked away satisfied. Nakikora sat for a moment, then sighed. Only Hara would do this to her. She gave a bitter laugh and shook her head.

"Looks like Hara-san got here before I did."

Nakikora glanced up to see Captian Yamamoto holding an ice pack.

"Captian..."

Nakikora sat up straighter.

"It's fine," she waved her away."

Nori sat down next to her. She gave Nakikora the ice pack.

"You pushed yourself past your limit, you embodied our fighting spirit and gave everything to the court. Although we need to work on your stamina, I couldn't have asked for more."

Nori pushed herself off the bench and started walking away..

"Oh, and Suzuki.." she looked up.

"Yes Bucho?"

"Make sure that Mayumi keeps her flirting to a minimum."

Nakikora laughed as Yamamoto walked away. She took the ice pack and placed it on her legs. She breathed a sigh of relief. She let the cold sensation wash over her legs.

"You okay Kiko?"

Nakikora looked up. Yagyuu and Niou walked up to Nakikora on her bench, Niou holding an ice pack to his limp left arm.

"Your legs are pretty red," Niou pointed out.

"I think I'll survive captian obvious," Nakikora rolled her eyes. "By the way your arm looks pretty unresponsive, you might need to get that fixed."

Niou grinned and sat on the bench next to her.

"Puri."

She stuck her tounge out at him. He returned the sentiments. Yagyuu shook his head.

"You two need to grow up."

They turned on him.

"YOU need to cut the Cinderella crap and ask that Nakamura girl out," Niou pointed at him. "I thought I was going to be sick watching that."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Yagyuu said, disgruntled.

"Quit your denial Hiroshi-kun," Nakikora teased, "everyone saw how trippy you and Mayumi-chan were acting."

"I'm offended," Yagyuu huffed, "I am not 'trippy'."

"Get off your high horse," Niou gave him a push, "because while you two were making goo-goo eyes at each other, Kiko and I were playing a singles match on a doubles court to cover for you guys. A long, hard match."

Yagyuu opened his mouth in defense, but nothing came out.

"That's what I thought," Niou said smugly. "Now that I've won this fight ask her out."

"No I will not," Yagyuu said sternly, "I don't like her like that and neither does she. Besides, wouldn't I need to be her friend before dating her?"

"She's not one of your fangirls," Nakikora scoffed, "she's never met you before today and neither have you, and you both do like each other 'like that' so ask her out."

"I'm only going to repeat myself one more time," Yagyuu said slowly, "we do not like each other in that way, simple as that."

"Sure," Niou rolled his eyes, "oh, here's your chance now!"

Mayumi was running towards them.

"Kiko-chan! I have the ice pack!"

"Be careful Mayumi!" Nakikora said in alarm, "your shoe is untied!"

"What?"

She almost reached them when the untied shoelace finally caught up with her. She went sprawling head on towards the ground. Yagyuu felt his stomach drop. He reached out for Mayumi and caught her in a sweeping gliss. Mayumi's face was inches from his.

"Th-thank you, Yagyuu-kun," Mayumi blushed.

"It's nothing," he said softly.

He lifted her up and set her on her feet.

"Oh, Nakikora, here's the ice pack," she said sheepisly.

"Thanks Mayumi-chan," she gave her a grin.

That only made her blush more deeply. Nakikora set the other ice pack on her legs and let the cold numbness take over. Niou turned to Yagyuu and gave him the biggest 'I told you so' smirk he could muster.

"Shut up Niou," Yagyuu muttered.

They all sat down onto the bench. Singles 3 was about to start.

Yanagi walked to the gate of the courts. It was his turn to play.

"Renji," a voice called him.

Yanagi turned his head to see Sanada looking out to the courts. He walked over to him.

"Yes Genichirou?"

"Do you have data on this girl?"

Yanagi could see the frustration in his eyes at the sight of how the matches were turning out.

"I'm afraid I was naieve enough not to collect on the girls' team over the years."

Sanada silently cursed the Data Master's foolishness. He gave Renji a sideways glance.

"It shouldn't take me more that three games to gather it all," Yanagi smiled.

"Just-"

"'Just win the game' was what you were about to say," Yanagi walked back to the gate, "don't worry, I will."

Yanagi stepped out onto the court to meet his opponent, but nobody was there.

"Hana Arisu, please come to the court!" the referee called.

"Oh? It's my turn?" the blonde said wide eyed.

She glided onto the court as if she were a goddess with a gaudy pink racket in hand. Half of the boys stood there shell-shocked. Half of the girls could be seen rolling their eyes, or gagging or giving loud fake coughs.

"Now there," Niou whistled, "is some hot stuff."

"You can pick them can't you Masaharu?" Nakikora laughed bitterly.

Niou looked at her with a leer, "Jealous much?"

Yanagi walked up to the net and held out a hand. She shook it tentatively.

"Please go easy on me," she said with a sugary sweet smile.

Renji said nothing. He walked to the serving point and waited for the call.

"Singles 3 Yanagi vs Hara. Yanagi to serve."

Yanagi tossed the ball and the serve went over. Hara stepped towards the ball and hit it, but it got no further than the net.

"15-0"

"Oops," she giggled.

Some of the girls fidgeted in their seats. A couple of Hara's posse were cheering her on. The captain and the other regulars just watched with stony expressions.

The rest of that game went that way. Arisu hit ball everywhere but over to the other side of the net.

"1 game 0! Hara to serve!"

She picked up the ball.

"Here I go!" She said sweetly. Yanagi waited for a light serve or a fault, but was face to face with a furious one instead. He recovered quickly from the shock and returned the ball. A small rally began as the ball went back and forth across the court.

"15-0"

Some of the boys let out short gasps as her display, but the girls stayed expressionless.

_She's decent_, Yanagi thought, _but she is far from the level her team-mates are at._

The match was a 5 games to 1 and Hara could barely keep points away from Yanagi. Not that she tried. She only went for the easier balls. She was pale and dry as ever while a few beads of sweat were gleaming on Yanagi's forehead. He actually went for every ball.

It was match point. Yanagi served. The ball bounced to the other court and Hara sent it back. Yanagi hit it to the far side of the court. Hara went for the ball but she knew she wasn't going to make it.

"Ahhh!" Hara began fall.

She landed on the ground and laid there for a moment. Then she shot up and klutched her right ankle as if pain was plaging it.

"I've twisted it," she said with a dramatic sigh, "I can no longer play anymore."

Some of Hara's group came and hauled the vice captian off the court. The referee was bewildered, not knowing if he should call the game ending to match point or injuries.

"I hope she's okay," Yagyuu said thoughtfully.

"She isn't even hurt," Mayumi said quietly.

"Huh?"

"Little miss drama queen is hobbling on the wrong ankle," Nakikora pointed out angrily, "she'd have her little trick perfect if she had hobbled on the left ankle."

"Hmmmmm," Niou smirked, "I see some value in her trick."

"Manipulative, narcissistic," Nakikora muttered.

"I like her more already," Niou smiled.

"self-seeking, arrogant, over-dramatic," she spat.

"After my own heart," he beamed.

"uncaring, filthy rich," she hissed.

"How many nice things about her," he said brightly.

"SELF RIGHTEOUS, GOOD FOR NOTHING, DIRTY, LITTLE BI-"

"NAKIKORA!" Mayumi looked at her with disbelief.

"Barbie from Hell," Nakikora muttered embarassedly.

People stared at her. Niou did a double take, then burst into a fit of laughter. He had gotten a much better reaction than he expected. Nakikora started to turn red.

"Barbie from Hell?" Niou spluttered, "Is that what she is?"

He grabbed his sides from laughing so hard.

"I hate to say it Kiko-chan," Yayuu straightened his glasses with the smallest of smiles,"but Niou-kun played you like a board game."

Yukimura looked out at the horizion, the sun had finally set and they would have to turn on the lamps if they wanted to continue.

"Yukimura-san," Yamamoto called, "it's getting very late, I'm afraid we will have to postpone the rest of the matches.

"I'm afraid you are right," Yukimura said, "perhaps some other time."

"I would, however, like to apologize," Yamamoto gave a small bow, "what I said back on the courts was out of line. I should be grateful that you have allowed us to share your courts. My sincerest apologies."

Yukimura had not expected this. Sanada walked up to Yukimura with a keeness on his face.

"Do we plan to go on?" he asked his leader.

"Sorry Genichiriou," he shook his head, "but we are done for today. But thank you for your apologies Yamamoto-san."

"I would also like to apologize to you, Sanada," Nori said. "I must learn to keep my temper in check."

"Should a captain be apologizing?" Sanada raised his eyebrows.

"You are not much of a captain," Nori looked at him, "if you cannot admit and fix your own mistakes. You will be stuck in front of a brick wall."

"I accept your apology." _Even though it was my fault_, Sanada thought guiltily.

The captians called the teams once more.

"Everyone go home!" Yukimura told the mob, "the matches are over for today, but the real practice begins tomorrow!"

* * *

Thats the end of chapter 3. Jeez, it took me three chapters to get through one day at Rikkai! Hopefully if won't be like that in the future.

Please send your feedback about the story. Thanks for your patience :)


	4. Wear me out

Okay,

so I got this one posted, (these are gettign too long! it's rediculous!) so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Wear me out**

Nakikora lightly jogged down the street, the early morning horizion in the distance behind her. It was Thursday morning and that meant is was conditioning day. Nakikora could not afford to be late unless she wanted to run extra laps on conditioning day.

Nakikora spotted the small quaint house and marched up the driveway, and stopped in front of the house, not bothering to knock on the door. She set her bag out the ground and rifled through it. She then produced an air horn.

AAAAAIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG!

A loud thump came from inside the house. Nakikora gave a satisfied nod. There was a clattering from inside the window.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Niou shoved his head out the window.

"I get tired of yelling for you to wake up," she shrugged," so I improvised."

"Can't you just wake me up like a normal person?" he asked, exasperated.

"You're not a normal person," she smiled innocently, "so it's impossible to wake you up normally."

Niou scowled at her logic and muttered to himself angrily as he shut the window and began getting himself ready for the day. This is why she loved mornings, it was the only time Niou was off guard. Nakikora sat down on the steps and waited until Niou appeared from the front door.

"You're freaking insane," Niou looked at the girl mutiniously.

"But I got you up," she smiled sweetly.

"FREAKING INSANE."

"And yet you're my best friend. Therefore, you're as sane as I am."

][

Niou seemed to cool down by the time they got to school, but Nakikora knew Niou would get his revenge later. They approached the tennis courts. A mob of fangirls were watching the regulars warm up.

"KYAAA! Yukimura-sama!"

"I LOVE YOU MARUI-SENPAI!"

"IIEEE! It's Yagyuu-sama!"

The fangirls screamed as the sight of their favorite tennis players. Nakikora rolled her eyes.

"How can you guys stand that?" she pointed at the mob of overzealous teenage girls.

Niou shrugged, "you get used to it."

"But you can't even move a muscle without the girls going all 'kya! kya!' over you," she argued.

"It has it's perks," he gave a wide grin.

"Like?"

"Like this."

He turned Nakikora around and gave her a overbearing hug.

"AHHHHHHHHH! That skank is all over Niou-sama!"

"She told me they were not dating, the liar!"

"LETS GET HER!"

"Puri," the trickster gave a leering smirk.

The stampede of angry fangirls came charging towards Nakikora.

"I hate you," she glared at Niou.

She started to run for the tennis court fence and scaled it faster than humanly possible. The fangirls clawed at her feet while Niou stood there laughing. He bent down to Kiko's bag and began rummaging through it. He smirked when he found what he was looking for.

Nakikora was perched precariously on the top of the fence, trying to keep out of reach from the crazy girls. She could feel the stares of the guys tennis club members on her back as she held onto the cold chain-link for dear life.

AAAAIIIIINNNNGGGGG!

"AAAHH!"

Startled out of her wits, Nakikora lost her balance and nearly fell onto the tennis court. She grabbed the metal pole where she had just been crouching and held on. She had barely made it. The fangirls were now screaming at her to get off the court.

"Suzuki-chan."

The fangirls fell silent. Nakikora turned her head to see Yukimura looking up at her expectantly.

"Yukimura-san?"

"I think it's time for you to get to practice," he said seriously.

There was no excuse for disturbing his practice, much less making a spectacle of yourself.

She gave him a sheepish grin and let go of the pole. She landed on her knees with a 'THUMP'. She dusted them off and turned to him.

"Sorry Yukimura-san," she apologized, "it won't happen again.

He chuckled softly.

"See that you don't. Oh, and will you give this to Yamamoto-san?" he handed her a piece of paper.

She nodded and took the paper from him. She walked off the court and through the the sea of scowling girls, straight up to Niou. She picked up her bag and put her hand out for the air horn.

"What did Yukimura give you?" he pointed at the note, ignoring the hand.

"Something to give my bucho," she swiped the air horn from him.

"You're lucky I like you Cheeko-chan," Niou shook his finger with glee, "or I would have done something much worse."

Nakikora glared at him wondering what could be more worse than being hunted down by insane fangirls.

"If you had," she warned, "you would have been dead before lunch."

][

"Okay regulars, do your 50 laps then racket swings," Yamamoto ordered. "We are only doing conditioning for today so you can go to class when you are done."

All the player went obediently. All except for one, that is.

"Hara! That means you!"

The blonde was sitting on a nearby bench.

"Oh I couldn't possibly run on this ankle," she said, wide-eyed. "The doctor said I have to fully recover."

Nori rubbed her temples and rolled her eyes. She turned to focus on her players. Nakikora came running up to her.

"Oy! Sorry I'm late bucho!" Nakikora puffed.

"Why, pray tell, ARE you late?" Yamamoto felt her patience drip away.

"Rabid fangirls," Nakikora muttered to herself, "oh, and Yukimura asked me to give you this."

She handed Nori the note. Nori unfolded it and began to read. Nakikora waited patiently. She finished reading and looked at her.

"You read the note I trust?"

Nakikora was taken aback.

"Ah, who me? No, I have not. Not at all. Nope. Haven't read a letter."

"Suzuki, you've always been bad at lying to me."

Nakikora blushed, but said nothing.

"Very well," Yamamoto shook her head, "but keep it a secret, at least until Saturday. Go run your laps with the rest of the team. And do an extra 15 for bein late."

"Yes bucho," she nodded and began to run after the rest of her team.

][

"Kouda quit pushing me," Aoki snapped.

The black haired girl's pink streak bobbed to and fro as she glared at the second year with irritation.

"Sorry Makio-chan," Suzume giggled, and went running past her.

"Has anyone seen Kiko-chan?" Mayumi said worriedly.

"Don't worry," Hana nudged her, grinning, "she's probably making out with that Niou guy somewhere."

"Takeuchi," she yanked her ponytail teasingly, "I'm pretty sure they're just friends, not friends with benefits."

"It's the same thing, isn't it?" Hana laughed.

Mayumi gave her a wide grin. Then pushed past Aoki as well.

"Hey! Mayumi! Suzume! Guys, wait up!" Hana called after them.

Makio was given a final shove as the girls went speeding past her. She glared at them.

"Stupid second years," she muttered.

][

Most of the girls had finished their traning for today and was walking out of the changing room. Nakikora was on her last set of racket swings when Hara called her.

"Nakikora-chan!" she sang sweetly, "come here."

Nakikora finished her last few swings and walked up to the blonde.

"What is it?" she said tiredly.

"You were late," she gave a wide grin, "so you will have to give me 30 makeup laps now."

"What?" she protested, "I did my makeup laps already and Yamamoto knows it."

"Well, if you don't," Arisu glanced down at her manicured nails, "I'll just tell her you didn't finish your morning training."

The captian had already left, having some business to attend to.

"She won't believe you," Nakikora said forcefully. "You know she almost never believes you."

"Perhaps not," she frowned and looked at her, eyes glinting.

Nakikora wished she had shut her mouth.

"But, Nori-chan will believe me when I tell her I cancelled construction AND that is was all because you wouldn't do the measley laps I asked you to do."

"Are you saying that you will plant blame on me for that?" she hissed.

"What do you think?"

Nakikora growled, but started trotting off to do her laps.

"Oh, and Suzuki-chan?"

Nakikora stopped and glared at her.

"Make that, 45 laps."

][

During second half of the morning's classes, the library was filled with second years since Class 5 and Class 14 were working on projects with partners. Everyone was talking in hushed tones. Niou and Yagyuu were sitting at a table with books scattered everywhere. Mayumi was at a table by herself going through the text of one book, but not really concentrating. Nakikora hadn't arrived to early morning class.

Nakikora pushed throught the doors of the library, making a beeline to Mayumi. She was covered in sweat.

"How unbecoming," Niou snickered at her.

Nakikora chose to ignore the comment, having no energy to argue. She sat at the table and began pulling papers and books out of her bag. And then Niou remembered. He pulled a piece of paper out and began scribbling on it. He wadded it up.

"I think we should use this passage," Yagyuu pointed at a page in the book. "It will emphasize the point we want to make.

"Yeah," Niou replied absentmindedly.

He was staring at Nakikora and Mayumi, about the throw the paper wad. He tossed and hit Kiko square in the head and the wad landed in front of her. She took it and opened it.

_'What did the note say?'_

She gave Niou a look and shook her head.

"Are you done yet?" Yagyuu gave him a reproachful glance.

"I'm trying to figure out what the note Yukimura gave Kiko said," Niou started scribbling on another piece of paper.

He tossed the second one.

_'What did Yukimura want to say to your captian?'_

"Why don't you just ask Yukimura yourself?" Yagyuu asked as he copied down the passage from the book.

He had read Niou's words while he had been writing it.

Nakikroa wrote something down and tossed it back.

_'It's a secret'_

Niou gave a hiss and wrote down a reply.

"You know as well as I do that he wouldn't tell me such a thing," Niou directed the comment at Yagyuu.

_'You can tell me'_

_'No, I can't'_

_'Please?'_

_'No'_

_'Pretty please?'_

_'No!'_

_'Tell me already!'_

_'Not happening'_

Niou wrote another reply and tossed it, but Yagyuu caught the paper in mid toss.

"That's quite enough," he said sternly.

Niou got up from the table and walked up to the two girls. Yagyuu sighed and turned his attention back to the passage.

Mayumi giggled softly and pointed at the approaching Niou.

"Yes?" Nakikora glanced up from scanning her book,"do you need something?"

"I do," he pulled a chair up and sat down.

"We're supposed to be working in partners," Mayumi whispered, "not in threes."

"Then scram," Niou looked at her.

Mayumi gave a small huff and picked up her books.

"Fine," she said, "I'll just get a new partner."

Mayumi walked briskly over where Yagyuu was sitting and said something to him. He pushed Niou's old chair to her and she smiled. She sat down and they got to work.

"Dang it Niou," Kiko glared at him, "she was my partner, and a good one at that."

"Well now you have a better one," he waved it away, "now about that note..."

Nakikora slammed her book close and glared at him. She did not have the patience for this today.

"I was told to keep it a secret," she crossed her arms.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because it's a SECRET," she said exasperated.

The librarian gave her a warning glance. She sighed and pulled her book towards her again.

"Look," she whispered. "I was told not to tell anyone and that's it. Now, if you're going to be my partner now, lets start on this project."

][

The lunch bell rang. Niou and Nakikora had made some heady on their project, in between the question and answer sessions on the note, much to Kiko's dislike.. Book and papers were scattered all over the desk. Niou streched his arms.

"Man I'm hungry," he yawned.

"Didn't you eat breakfast?" Nakikora asked.

"No," he said grimly, "YOU woke me up later than yesterday."

"Did not," she muttered.

He began to help Kiko compile papers in a folder and stack up the books. They had finally gotten the messy table into some type of organization. Niou glanced at a clock on the wall. It had taken them 8 minutes to clean up a measley table. It was going to take longer than that to put 6 stacks of book away. He looked at his gurgling stomach.

"You go ahead," Nakikora told him.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, "I just have to return the books."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Just go," she waved him off, "I'm tired of seeing your face."

"I'm hurt," he pouted. "You are supposed to treat your friends better than that.

She rolled her eyes.

"Just GO."

"Okay, okay," he raised his hand in defeat.

He walked out of the library and went to the cafeteria. Nakikora looked at the stacks of books. There were alot more to put away than she realized. It was going to take most of the lunch period she groaned to herself. She now regretted giving Niou leaveway.

"Suzuki-chan?"

Nakikora shifted her gaze to see Yanagi holding an open book in his hands. She smiled

"I didn't know you came to the library during lunch," he closed his book.

"I don't," she sighed, "Niou-kun and I were working on a project and this is the remains of the named disaster."

"Shouldn't he be helping you?" he folded his arms.

"He was hungry so I sent him to lunch," she shrugged.

She picked up a stack of books and began walking down the rows of shelves. She fingered the spines until she found the first book's spot. She pushed the book in. She found the second book's home, only to have it slid into place by someone else's hand.

"Yanagi-san?"

"You'll need help, won't you?" he smiled.

They split the stack and started putting the books away.

"Do you spend most lunch periods in the library?" Nakikora asked him.

"Usually. Unless I have a meeting or my friends request my company."

"You don't just want eat lunch with anyone else, say, a special friend?"

"Sometimes I might eat with Genichirou or Seiichi, but I'm not in a relationship like you, if that's what you mean," he mused.

"You-"

"'You think I'm dating Niou-kun' is what you were about to say," he slid another book in its place. "Random, I must admit, but predictable all the same."

Nakikora didn't like words being put in her mouth, even if she was about to say them.

"No," she grinned, "I was going to say 'You sure are very helpful, assisting me with these books' but I want to hear the rest of that other conversation."

Yanagi gave a small smile and continued on.

"I see you dating Niou as a 50% chance."

"Oh?" Nakikora went to get another stack of books, "how did you figure that?"

"You two are extremely close and call each other by your first names," he explained. "You are also very comfortable with each other."

"Okay, but?"

"But you also are very mean to each other and play pranks on each other uncerimoniously. And they really are the most unhealthy pranks."

Nakikora smiled at this one.

"So according to data," she slid another book in place, "there is a 50% possibility that I am having a relationship with Niou Masaharu that is on a higher level than friendship?"

"That about sums it up," he nodded.

She slid more books away.

"Putting data aside," Nakikora glanced at the cover of a book, "what do you think?"

"What do I think?"

"Putting data aside," she tried again, "do you think Niou and I are dating?"

Yanagi thought for a moment.

"What I think is irrelevant without data. Data is always right."

He put another book on the shelf. Nakikora frowned at this.

"Nothing you think is irrelevant," she argued, "it sometimes may be wrong, but it doesn't make it irrelevant."

Yanagi paused at this thought, but shook his head.

"My thoughts are always based on the data, so it doesn't matter either way."

"Its a 50% chance, right? There's room to guess because it's a coin flip for an answer," she said with finality. "So what do you think?"

He chuckled at the girl's unyielding drive for his thoughts. He pondered his answer for a moment.

"If Niou was actually dating you, he would treat you with more respect than he does now. And as your boyfriend he would also do his best to make you happy."

"So you don't think he's dating me?" Nakikora said from under her bangs.

"I didn't say that. I just told you what I thought," he shrugged.

"Yeah," she said, frustrated, "but you didn't answer the question."

She was trying to push a book onto the highest shelf, with little success.

"That's what my data is for."

He leaned over her and helped her hand push the book in place. He held his hand over hers for a moment then released it. He walked quickly back to his last few books. They had gotten extremely close, for just putting away a book. Nakikora felt her skin prickle at the memory of his touch.

"Why are you helping me anyways?" she asked softly.

"55% because it is good manners," he told her, "37% because of data collection and team intrests."

He glanced at the two books in his hands. Nakikora did quick mental math.

"That's only 92%," Kiko pointed out, "what about the other 8%?"

He slid the last two books into place.

"That," he said, "is because I find you interesting."

He walked to the table and picked up the next stack of books. Nakikora blushed at his words and went back for her last stack.

][

Once they finished, Nakikora glance at the clock and smiled. It had only taken them 15 minutes.

"Thank you for your help Yanagi-san," Nakikora bowed.

"It was my pleasure to assist you Suzuki," he smiled.

"Call me Nakikora," she offered, "or even Kiko if you want."

"Alright," he chuckled, "but shouldn't you call me by my first name in exchange?"

Nakikora smiled, "it's only fair."

"Kiko-chan I've been looking for you everywhere!"

The two turned to see Mayumi running up to them.

"Team meeting," she tugged at her arm. "Come on!"

Nakikora gave Yanagi an apologetic look.

"I have to go. See you later... Renji."

Mayumi pulled her out of the library and down the hallway.

"Bye," he said quietly, "Nakikora."

Mayumi pulled Nakikora along until they reached a class room. All the regulars were sitting the room except for the 3rd years. Nakikora sighed. It was another 'team meeting'.

When any of the second years called for a team meeting, it was usually a gossip circle or secret sharing time. But when it was urgent, it was an intervention.

"Ah, Kiko!" Hana grinned, "we were beginning to worry you had skipped lunch for something else."

Nakikora raised an eyebrow.

"So, who is this 'team meeting' about?" she put her hands on her hips.

"You," Suzume giggled.

"Oh, no," Nakikora turned for the door.

She had put up with screaming fangirls, an annoying Niou, and was pulled out of the nicest conversation she had had today. She was not about to go through a 'team meeting' about her and the gossip revovling around her. But Hana and Suzume had caught her by the arms and forced her into a chair.

"First off," Hana started, "where were you? We had to send Mayumi on a scavenger hunt to find you."

"In the library putting away books, but why is this important?"

"Were you with anyone?" She interrogated her, ignoring the question.

"No."

"Your lying," Mayumi sang sofly.

Nakikora glared at her. So much for best friends. The two girls looked a Mayumi eagerly.

"When I went in the library to get her," she whispered, "she was talking to Yanagi."

The girls squealed.

"It gets better," she said excitedly, "when she was saying goodbye, she called him Renji."

They squealed even more excitedly.

"We knew you were hung up on Niou," Suzume laughed, "but Yanagi?"

"They are just friends," she said, exasperated. "Niou has been my friend longer than any of you and it will stay that way."

"That's not what I heard," Suzume waggled her finger. "I heard that you were with Niou this morning and that you two kissed shamelessly next to the tennis courts."

"I heard," Hana put in, "that you two were making out on the tennis courts when Yukimura came and broke it up."

Nakikora snorted with laughter.

"And you believe that trash?"

"No," Mayumi started, "we know those rumors are streched, but there's always a hint of truth in every rumor."

Silence filled the room. All the girls looked at her expectantly.

"He hugged me," she rolled her eyes.

The girls screamed.

"He only did it to get me chased by those stupid fangirls," she muttered, "you guys are making a big deal out of nothing."

"But you like him," Suzume sang.

"I do not!" she said indignantly, "he's my best friend. And all of you do not have room to play cupid with me."

"Why not?" giggled Suzume, "it's fun."

"Kouda, I saw you turn on your sweet little innocent self for Jackal," her eyes flashed warningly. "You just couldn't turn it off could you?"

Suzume blushed. Hana stifled her laughs.

"Neither do you Hana," she glared at the girl. "You're a subtle one I'll give you that, but I know who you are vying for."

Hana fell silent at this.

"And Mayumi," she looked at her, "you're so obvious everyone but Yagyuu himself knows."

Mayumi stared at the floor. Nakikora pushed up out of her chair, irritated.

"Now, unless you guys have something else to talk about besides my love life I'm done here."

Nakikora stalked out of the classroom and down the hall. She needed some alone time and fresh air.

][

Nakikora ran up the last set of stairs and opened the door to the roof. A small breeze fluttered nearby treetops and the warm scent of spring enveloped Nakikora. She walked around the roof and breathed a sigh. Maybe she could get rid of her headache before class.

She walked to the wall near the door and slid down it. She closed her eyes. Nakikora considered skipping class to rest for awhile, but she knew she didn't have the guts to do it.  
She breathed another sigh closed her mind to all thought.

Then the roof door opened again and Nakikora heard footsteps

"I didn't expect to find you here slacking off," a voice said.

"Go away," she moaned.

The headache had almost left her.

The voice chuckled. Nakikora heard footsteps coming closer and someone slid onto the brick wall next to her.

"Piyo."

Nakikora opened her eyes and glared at the trickster. This was the last person she wanted to see.

"Go away," she muttered at him.

"Aw, come on," he grinned at her, "you know you're happy to see me."

"No," she said grimly, "I'm not."

She walked around the brick structure and slid down the other side of the wall. Niou got up and followed her.

"What's wrong?" he said teasingly, "are you still mad at me for the fangirl stunt?"

"Something like that," she said bitterly.

Niou blinked. Nakikora didn't hold grudges against his pranks, even if they got out of hand.

"Don't tell me rumors are flying around," he rolled his eyes. "Which one are you mad about, the make out one, or the one of us in the club room?"

Nakikora looked up at him.

"It actually evovled to us winding up in the guys tennis club room?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "and Yagyuu was the one that found us."

She chuckled softly. Of course the gentleman would be the one to find them. Then a wave of exaustion hit her. All this physical and mental torture had taken its toll and now Nakikora was down and out for the count. And somehow, it all came back to Niou.

She got up one more time and went to the next brick wall, with Niou following her.

"Are you mad at me?" he snorted. "It wouldn't be the first time."

She rubbed her head.

"Yes and no."

Niou frowned, "you're making no sense, not that you ever do."

"Well, I'm tired, and it's kinda your fault, but it isn't your fault, yet I'm still angry at you for it but I'm not, and you also led to that interest-"

"Cheeko, your babbling," he stopped her.

She laughed softly. She closed her eyes one more time.

"I guess, I'm... just... tired."

Niou looked at her, hiding the concern for his friend. He slid down the wall next to her.

"Then maybe we need to take a break and skip a few classes."

Nakikora opened her mouth to argue, but it was hard to fight off sleep when her eyelids weighed like lead. She started falling into the deep comatose stated of sleep, and felt and arm wrap around her just before she hit the bottom.

* * *

This chapter was very OC focused, but I felt you needed to get to know the players, and give Nakikora a little spotlight for awhile. (even though she does have it alot)

If you've been catching it, you're probably thinking 'what's with this Hara girl? and why does she keep talking about stopping construction?' If I don't get to that on the next chapter, I will explain in the afterchat of that chapter.

Thanks for being patient and please, please, please, review!

Thanks :)


	5. Invisible umbrellas

Chapter 5! Yay! I hope you guys enjoy

**

* * *

**

Chapter 5: Rain is not deflected by an invisible umbrella

Yagyuu walked dow the street with an umbrella in hand. The dark grey sky was threatening to burst of and soak him to the bone.

Yagyuu sighed at the thought of the irritating fact of nature called rain. It always ruined a day's atmosphere and the teachers seemed to come down slightly harder on you. Even Yukimura would find reasons to assign extra practice to do.

Thunder crashed.

Yagyuu pushed open his black umbrella open as the sky emptied its contents upon him.

Rain. How dreary.

Yagyuu looked ahead at the sidewalk in front of him to see a Rikkai uniform overcoat sporting light brown hair.

"Nakamura-chan?"

"Oh, hello Yagyuu-kun," Mayumi turned.

Droplets of rain clung to her hair.

"Are you not uncomfortable in the rain?" Yagyuu asked.

"No," she smiled, "not really. I like the rain. It's very... refreshing."

"Refreshing?"

Mayumi picked a dandelion growing in the cracks of the sidewalk.

"It's the only word I can think of to describe it. Everything smells cleaner and has a fresher look to it. It washes away the loose dirt and provides sustinance to green plants. The rain also reminds me that almost all stains can be washed away."

"What about the problems the rain causes?" Yagyuu asked her.

"Well," she said carefully, "sometimes we need problems and pain in order to wake up from the dream we live in. But that doesn't mean those can't be washed away as well."

She let the dandelion fall from her fingers and a trickle of water washed it down the side walk. Yagyuu let out a small chuckle. How easily he let his opinion be swayed by this girl.

Not that he minded.

He offered her space under his umbrella and she ducked her head under, smiling at walked onto school, dissappearing in the grey haze of rain.

[-]

The two reached the tennis courts to find Yukimura and Yamamoto under the awning of the lockeroom, waiting for players to pass by.

"Practice inside today," Yukimura yelled over the rain, "go get changed and meet up inside the gym."

Mayumi waved goodbye as she ran around the building to the girls changing room. Yagyuu shook his umbrella out and entered the changing room. Marui and Jackal were already there, starting to get ready.

"Yo!" Marui called.

Yagyuu nodded and proceeded to strip down and change into his uniform.

A loud clatter of rain entered the room as Niou walked in, the wet mess on his head called hair sticking to his face.

"What happened to you?" Marui pointed at the soaking wet Niou.

"Nakikora forgot her umbrella," he shrugged.

He pulled off his shirt and shook his hair like a wet dog.

"Ach! Niou! No need for that in here," Jackal shielded his face.

"What?" he grinned, "you guys can't take a little water?"

"Not when I don't have to," Jackal grumbled.

"Rain is alright," Yagyuu said, waving a hand.

Niou studied his face.

"Maybe because you were in the rain with somebody," Niou raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Yagyuu's face remained impassive but the corner of his mouth gave way to a small tic. He was going to have to fix that.

Niou nodded with a smug expression. Marui and Jackal gave Niou a wierd look and headed for the gym.

"Niou-kun may I borrow a comb?" Yagyuu asked icily.

Niou smirked and pointed to his bag on the bench. Yagyuu thumbed through his bag and pulled out the things he was looking for. He opened the door of the club room, then shut it again.

Niou began changing.

"Oy! Hiroshi! Where's my jersey?" he interrogated him.

"I'm sure I don't know," he said complacently, tossing the comb back to Niou.

He walked to the door and began to walk out.

"Oh, and Niou-kun?"

Niou looked up at Yagyuu.

"I hope you like rain too."

Yagyuu pushed the door open wide enough for Niou to notice his jersey laying in a mud puddle. Yagyuu briskly walked out of the changing room with satisfaction as he heard a string of curses coming from the angry trickster behind him at the sight of his stained shirt.

[-]

The boys and girls lined up on opposite side of the basketball court. Everyone looked slightly damp, except for a irritated Niou, who happened to have a few stains on his jersey.

"Do I want to know?" sighed Yukimura.

"Probably not," muttered Niou.

Yagyuu permitted himself a small smile. The captians called for attention.

"Because of the weather," Yukimura's voice echoed throught the gym, "we will be conditioning today."

"80 laps everyone!" Yamamoto called.

The players took off around the gym as the floor squeaked beneath their feet. Nakikora caught up with Niou.

"Playing in the mud?" she snickered.

"You bet," he grinned, "want another hug?"

Nakikora's smile fell and she began running faster. Niou went after her. It got to the two were practically sprinting.

"500 yen says Suzuki won't last 5 laps," Marui called.

"No way," Hana shook her head, "at least 15."

"I say 30 laps," Mayumi declared.

Well, she had to support her best friend.

"You're overestimating her," Kirihara rolled, "10 laps at most."

"It's a 75% that she'll last all 80 laps," Yanagi stated.

They looked at him.

"Are you insane?" Makio snorted, "maybe 40 if she's lucky, but certainly not 80."

"It all depends all how bad she doesn't want to get caught," Yagyuu said thoughtfully. "Maybe 28 laps."

"What am I, a racehorse?" Nakikora yelled across the gym, Niou still gunning after her.

The captians watched the scene on the side of the gym.

"How shameful, betting on a girl in destress," Yukimura remarked.

"I couldn't agree more," the other captian nodded.

They looked at each other.

"25 laps?" Yukimura offered.

"You're on."

79 laps later, Nakikora crossed the finish line 6 laps ahead of everyone else, excluding Niou, who was 1 lap behind. She collasped in the middle of the gym floor.

"Stunning performace Suzuki!" Yamamoto called. "You may go to class."

She nodded of listlessly and layed on the floor as Nori collected her 500 yen from Yukimura.

It took Nakikora a few minutes to catch her breath, but she finally got off the gym floor.

_Thank God Niou is lazy_ Nakikora thought. _Or I would have been toast_.

She stumbled her way to the exit.

Niou did the last lap and stopped. He clutched sides trying to find air for his lungs. He picked up a water bottle and drank its contents. He tossed it aside.

"Can I go now?" he complained loudly

Yukimura nodded begrudginly.

Niou limped to the exit as well.

The rest of the team finished their laps.

"Didn't see that coming," Marui blinked.

"It wasn't a question of how long she would last," Yagyuu said quietly, "it's how far Niou-kun would take it."

"Who would have thought Suzuki would last all 80 laps?" Jackal mused.

"Ahem?"

Yanagi got their attention and looked at them expectantly. Everyone began paying their dues to Yanagi. He even managed to catch Kirihara and Marui before they slipped out the door. Collecting Yen had never been so sweet.

[-]

Kirihara sighed as he walked out of the changing room. The day had already started out badly with the rain and tons of laps. And now he had double English today. Oh, how he despised English. It wasn't bad as far as languages go, but he didn't understand a word of it.

He walked into class and sat down at his desk. Everyone was milling around, talking about the upcoming weekend. The teacher called for order and the students went to their desks. Then he started talking about something called possessive pronouns and possessive nouns?

Akaya couldn't pay attention any longer and found himself drifting off to sleep.

"Akaya!"

A ruler came slapping down on his desk. He shot up in his seat, trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes.

"Yes sensei?" Kirihara looked up expectantly.

"Can you read the the sentence on the board?" his eyes narrowed.

Kirihara squinted up at the board_ 'The cat stole the dog's ball.'_

"Thee cuat stu-ole thee du-ogs bu-all," he sounded it out.

The teacher sighed, "can you name the nouns in the sentnce?"

Nouns? He squinted again.

"Stole?"

The teacher shook his head.

The bell rang.

"Kirihara, work on page 59 in you textbook and bring it to class tomorrow."

Kirihara grunted and began putting his books away.

A note slippede from his desk and to the floor. He picked it up and read through it.

_Kirihara-kun_

_Is it alright if I call you that? I hope so._

_Anyways, this day has been really bleak with all this rain, even sensei seems a bit more irritated than usual. I feel so secretive sending you letters back and forth, I feel that I should divulge little hints to you so that you can figure out who I am on your own. Ummmm, okay here's a big one: I'm in the tennis club. Yes! I am! _

_No, I was in the club before I ever met you but I think tennis is interesting enough. At least practice is. I thought it was funny when Suzuki-senpai got chased around the gym today by Niou-senpai, I never knew she hated mud that much!_

_I have a question that's been bugging me for awhile and I hope you will answer it truthfully._  
_Why do you write back and forth to me? I must seem like a trivial fangirl to you so why do you even bother replying?_

_That's all. Have a good day Kirihara-kun :)_

_Your secret admirer_

Kirihara smiled at the note. He took out a sheet of paper and wroted down a reply. Akaya slipped it into his book and left it in his book, knowing it would be gone when he got back to class.

He could feel the day get slightly better.

[-]

"Can I have some?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

Nakikora was herding her lunch away for not just one whiny customer, but two.

"Kouda you can buy your own lunch and Niou, suck it up."

"But Kiko-chan," Suzume whined, "you have a really yummy lunch and I spent all my money earlier today."

"You mean lost you money eariler today," she said dryly, "placing bets I mean?"

"Uh, well..." she said nervously.

Niou went silently for the lunch. He was almost there. Nakikora slid it just out of his reach and looked at him.

"I didn't place a bet," he folded his arms, "so why don't you share?"

"I don't appreciate being ran to death either," she glared at him.

Mayumi sighed. She had been watching the whole ordeal. Sitting next to Nakikora for lunch was a bigger hassled that she had bargained for.

"Just leave her alone," Mayumi grumbled.

"Oh?" Niou touched her shoulder, "if we are so annoying then why don't you go sit with your boyfriend?"

"Yagyuu," Mayumi blushed, "is not my boyfriend."

"Uh huh," Suzume smiled at her, "team meeting anyone?"

"Unless the next one is about something else," Nakikora said disdainfully, "I will not be participating."

Mayumi gave her a grateful look. Perhaps Nakikora had forgiven her for the last one. She needed to be nicer to Kiko.

"Blah, blah, blah, team meeting, whatever," Niou went for the lunch again.

Nakikora still did not yield the lunch. Niou narrowed his eyes.

"Cheeko, I command you... SHARE!" he pointed his finger at her as if it would magically give him the lunch.

Nakikora snorted with laugher, "yes, oh mighty Masaharu-sama."

She gave the lunch to Mayumi.

"You know that's not what he meant," Suzume pouted.

Mayumi giggled and proceeded to eat a rice ball.

"Give it to me already," snarled Niou.

He lunged for it one last time. Mayumi pulled it out of reach but the contents collided with someones shirt. And it just happened to be Hara Arisu's shirt.

"Oh crap," Suzume whispered.

Mayumi slowly moved her gaze to Hara's face and paled. Her mouth was caught in a silent scream staring at the food all over her shirt.

"OhmygoshI'msosorry," Mayumi said hurriedly, trying to clean the stain. "I didn't mean to."

Hara mouth closed and her expression slowly twisted into one of pure hatred. She snatched Mayumi's wrist away from her shirt and gave her a cold stare.

"You will regret this," she hissed in her ear.

Arisu stalked out of the cafeteria. All the girls at the table that were sitting at the table wore deeply worried expressions.

"Geeze," Niou sat down, "touchy."

Mayumi sunk down in her chair, chalk white.

"She'll probably run you till you stroke," Suzume said quietly.

Nakikora turned her head to glare at her.

"Even though she's vice captian," Niou glanced at Mayumi, "she shouldn't be able to do that."

"Oh, but she can," Suzume said sadly.

"Can she?"

"Hara came into the club last year and started tennis to gain attention," Kiko explained, "she was okay, but she wanted power and wanted to be a regular, and well, she's not regular good."

"So naturally Nori said she couldn't be a regular," Suzume continued, "but this year Hara went to her dad to go to the school board and they allowed him to make plans to build better girls' tennis court."

"The deal was sealed before Yamamoto could refuse," Nakikora picked up, "Hara forced bucho to give her a regular spot and vice captiancy or she would tell her dad to stop construction halfway through."

"Can't the school finish it if they did stop construction?" Niou asked.

Nakikora shook her head.

"The plan is too expensive for the school's budget," Nakikora sighed. "They have to finish it or the school is at a loss. No girl tennis courts."

"That's the biggest blackmail story I've ever heard," Niou shook his head in disbelief, "but how can her dad afford it?"

"She's rich," Suzume leaned in, "filthy stinking rich."

"Atobe rich?" Niou raised a brow.

Everyone knew of the Hyotei diva's wealth. Even the Rikkai tennis girls

"No, but it's very close," Suzume nodded.

Nakikora focused her attention back to her solem friend.

"Mayumi-chan," Nakikora whispered, "are you okay?"

Mayumi nodded slowly and tried to put on a smile.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

She got up and walked out quietly.

"I'm going to go with her," Nakikora got up and ran after her.

The only people left at the table were Suzume and Niou. The mangled lunch sat on the table where Mayumi left it.

"Well," Niou swiped the lunch, "I'll be going now."

He trotted off. Suzume got up, muttering something about finding Hana.

[-]

Nakikora and Mayumi ran to the club room as the rain continued to beat down on the school. It was time for tennis practice and Mayumi was in a even worse mood than before.

"Any more rain and we'll be swimming home," Nakikora muttered.

Mayumi said nothing.

They turned into the changing room and almost ran straight into Arisu.

"Hara?"

She flipped a lock of hair behind her shoulder

"I was told to tell the regulars that we have another gym practice," she said impassively, "hurry up and get changed and get to the gym."

Mayumi nervously walked to her changing spot and quickly got dressed. She darted out of the room as fast as possible.

_What is she planning?_ Nakikora wondered.

"Hurry up," snapped Arisu.

"Sorry," Nakikora shrugged.

She walked out of the changing room without glancing back.

[-]

"Practice Saturday at three," Yamamoto called, "see you then."

Mayumi and Nakikora collasped on the side of the gym, their whole beings dripping sweat. Nakikora massaged her legs trying to get the knots out.

"I guess Hara forgot," Nakikora picked up a waterbottle.

"Yeah right," Mayumi said glumly.

Nakikora offered her the waterbottle and picked herself off the floor.

"Come on," Nakikora gave Mayumi a hand and they trekked to the girls lockeroom.

They opened the door of the gym to see rain STILL pouring down from the heavens. Nakikora glanced at the tennis courts as they passed by, and saw Hana and Suzume roaring with laughter.

"Hey!" Nakikora called, "what's up?"

"Slipping slide!" Hara called, her shirt sticking to her.

Nakikora brightened and grabbed Mayumi's wrist.

"Come on!" she smiled at her, "let's have some fun."

Nakikora ran to the laughing girls and tried to stop in front of Hara, but slid and knocked her to the ground.

They burst into a fit of giggles. Mayumi started to smile.

Suzume slid across the court and sprayed Mayumi with water.

"IIIieeee!" she giggled and covered her face.

Mayumi picked up the empty ball bucket in the corner and splashed the girls. They screamed and ran in different directions as laughter rang through the air.

Thunder rumbled softly in the distance.

"It's surprsing how teenage girls can be reduced to toddlers with a little water," Aoki stared out the window of a upper level classroom.

"Let them be Makio-chan," Yamamoto waved it away, "we've had our own share of fun."

Makio raised a brow.

"You mean the shaving cream incedent?"

Yamamoto smiled at the memory, "we ran so many laps for that."

Makio gave a small chuckle and walked away from the window.

The girls ran around the tennis courts, screaming, laughing. And for a moment, Mayumi's problems and awaiting pain were washed away as showers of the soft liquid came splashing down to earth.

* * *

Ironically, I wrote the first part of this on days that it was raining.

Okay, so when I'm writing I sometimes have these little fluff stories about the charaters and the OCs and I just have to write them down! Should I start posting some of them on a separate story when they fit with what has happened in this story? Please give me your insight!

Thank you for your patience and please review! :)


	6. In their own respective ways

Whew! This week has been busy! busy! busy!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks so to make up for it I will be posting the fluff fic soon

Enjoy :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own prince of tennis or any other company of worth

* * *

**Chapter 6: In their own respective ways**

The sun was rising the clouds were tucked away and the birds were twittering their morning glories.

And Nakikora was in bed sound asleep.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Hrmmmm," Kiko muttered.

"Cheeko! Wake up!"

Nakikora rolled over in bed

"Come on! Wake up already!"

Nakikora could have sworn Niou was at her bedroom window.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Oh wait, he was.

"Will you open up the window already?" he grunted.

She adjusted her tank top and sweat pants and sat up in her bed.

"Masaharu?" she rubbed her eyes, "what are you doing here?"

"Mom made me get out of the house," he grinned.

"And that gives you a reason to be outside my window?" she climbed out of bed to the said window.

"I figured since you wake me up every morning I should wake you up at least once," he smirked.

She sighed and opened the window. Niou hopped from the tree branch he was leaning on and sat down on her bed. She shut the window. Nakikora checked her bedroom clock. It was 8:35.

"I assume you haven't had breakfast," she said dryly.

"Nope," he smiled.

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"What do you want?"

"A full course traditional Japanese breakfast complete with rice and those little fish."

"You'll get an orange," she put her hands on her hips.

He shrugged, "or that."

There was a creak of a bed and slurred speech a few rooms down. They sat silent until the noise died.

"Is your dad..." Niou didn't finish.

"Yeah," she nodded pulling clothes out of her closet, "he came in like that last night."

Niou shook his head.

"Just wait in here."

She took a tee shirt and shorts and walked out of the room. Niou layed his head back and closed his eyes. Minutes later Nakikora walked into the room totally dressed with an orange in one hand, and a piece of toast in the other.

"Here," she tossed it.

Niou caught the orange and began to peel it. Nakikora munched on the toast.

"I assume we're going to practice togther?" Nakikora commented.

"How did you know we were going to have practice today?" he eyed her.

She polished off the toast.

"The note," Nakikora said offhandedly, "Yamamoto wanted to train togther and Yukimura accepted."

"So that's what it said," Niou popped a piece of orange in his mouth.

He almost regretted going to so much trouble to find out.

"Want to go play some street tennis?" Nakikora said randomly.

"Sure," he shrugged, "why not?"

They finished their breakfast and walked out the door

[]

Sanada browsed through the shelves at the small calligraphy shop. One of his classmates had recommended the shop's brushes and ink to him, and it happened that he was in that part of town today.

It was a quaint shop with brushes and paints of every color, shape, and size you could ever need. But it was also orderly and everything on the shelves had its own particular spot.

Sanada approved.

He had wanted to look through the inventory of paper and perhaps buy some, but there was none to be found. Disgruntled, he walked up to the dark brown haired girl at the cash register reading a magazine.

"Excuse me, where do you keep the paper?" he asked her.

She looked up from her reading material and her dark hair cascaded down her shoulder.

"It's in the back," she tucked the hair behind her ear neatly, "would you like for me to get some?"

He nodded and she set her magazine down. She disappeared into the back room.

She was pretty, Sanada had to admit, with her dark brown hair and wooly gray eyes. And Sanada almost never found a girl 'pretty'. Maybe it was something about the way she carried herself.

Sanada shook the thoughts from his head and stared down at the magainze in front of him. It was a tennis magazine. He blinked a couple times and pulled the article to him.

It was talking about a young Japanese tennis player who was sweeping the grand slam tornaments. There was a picture of a young man with black hair and a white cap pulled over his eyes. The picture gave off such an 'I am so better than you' air that Sanada had to snort.

Echizen Ryoma.

He pushed the magazine back as soon as the girl came out with the papers.

"You play tennis?" she smiled.

"A little," he glanced through the papers.

He glanced at all the different textures and shades of color. He settled for the clean white paper.

"How much for a set of this?" he picked up the paper.

"2000 yen," she said.

"Alright," he pushed all the paper togther, "1 set please."

She picked up the paper and went into the back room. An elderly lady came throught the door. She noticed Sanada and turned to the back room.

"NORI!" the old lady called, "we have a customer! Are you getting him everything he needs?"

"Yes grandmother!" the girl called from the back room.

"My apologies," the woman smiled sweetly, "Nori can be so careless."

Sanada said nothing.

"Grandmother!" the girl revoked the woman.

She had come back with the paper. Something in Sanada's head clicked.

"Nori? As in Yamamoto Nori?" he asked carefully.

"Sanada?" she said uncertainly.

He nodded.

"Oh? You know this nice young man?" the old lady blinked at her.

"We go to the same school," she looked at him carefully.

"I'll leave you two alone," the old woman smiled mischeviously, and walked into the back.

Nori sighed.

"I didn't recognize you without the hat," she explained.

He hadn't recognized her either. She seemed more relaxed in this enviornment to him. More, natural. Of course, it is hard to be relaxed when you manage a tennis team.

"You look different," he said finally.

"Different?" she mused.

"Well, you are more uptight at school," he pointed out.

She laughed, "I have to be if I want my rag tag tennis team to be even slightly acceptable for Rikkai standards. I should have recognized you when you were looking at the tennis magazine. Did you know the boy?"

"I don't know him personally, but we played his school at the Kantou and National tournament."

"Oh? What school is he from?"

"Seigaku."

Everything finally clicked.

"Well," Nori admitted, "you wouldn't think he was that good considering his 'holier than thou attitude'."

The corner of Sanada's mouth twitched at the thought.

Yamamoto rung up the total and placed the paper in a small brown bag.

"Here you go."

He paid the total.

"Have a nice day," she said with a covert smile.

He walked towards the door and Nori resumed reading her magaizne. He stopped.

"Yamamoto-san?" he turned

She looked up from the magazine. He had no idea why he was doing this.

"Would you like to accompany me for a drink later today?"

She gave him a small smile and opened her mouth.

"She accepts!" The old woman came crashing through the door, "she accepts!"

"Grandmother!" Nori said indignantly.

"What? You almost never get dates! I had to help you before you screwed this one up!"

"He asked me to get a drink with him. That doesn't make it a date."

Sanada felt his face grow hot and noted the pink tainting her own cheeks.

"After tennis practice?" he offered, trying to break the akwardness.

"Alright," she nodded.

He quickly set off before the old woman decided to make any more outbursts.

[]

"Niou wins. 7 games to 5."

Niou grinned at Nakikora, who grinned back.

"Nice game," Niou high fived her.

"You too," she gave him thumbs up.

"But your forehand needs work. And your backhand. And your smashes."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes.

She wiped her face off with a towel and checked the time.

"Come on," she prodded Niou, "practice starts soon."

Niou glanced at her phone over her shoulder and streched his arms. The two put their things away and walked out of the courts.

They reached their own courts to find Jackal, Marui, Suzume, Hana, Mayumi, and Makio sitting on the benches in deep conversation.

"Hey guys," Nakikora called, "what's up?"

"Hey!" Marui waved, "Suzume was just telling us some of her stories."

Makio rolled her eyes, "by stories they mean gossip."

"So?" Hana shrugged, "you learn things you never knew about yourself and others."

"Yeah," Marui nodded, "like I never knew Niou and Suzuki started going out last week then made out at the tennis courts to make it official, but Suzuki was found in the library cheating on Niou with someone else."

"Nakikora," Niou looked hurt, "I thought you said you loved me."

"I did," she said dramatically, "but then I met someone else. I'm sorry Masaharu we can no longer see each other."

"Do I not please you?" Niou pleaded.

"Not anymore," she turned her head with vanity.

"Are we interrupting something?" an amused voice said.

Yukimura, Yamamoto, Sanada, and Kirihara walked to the benches.

"Niou is being dumped by Nakikora," Mayumi giggled.

"Nakikora," Nori repremanded her with a smile, "what are the grounds for dumping Niou?"

"Being Niou would be good enough for me," muttered Kirihara.

"I'm sorry bucho," Nakikora shook her head, "I met someone else."

"Oh?" Yukimura raised his eyebrows, "who is it?"

"He's smart and handsome," she swooned with a laugh, "and mysterious and hides his emotions under a black cap,"

Everyone looked at Sanada.

"Tarundoru," he growled.

Everyone laughed.

"Alright," Yukimura chuckled, "where's Yanagi and Yagyuu?"

"Sorry Seiichi," a voice called, "the bus was 5.4 minutes late than usual."

Yanagi and Yagyuu walked up into their midst.

"Where's Hara?"

"Does anyone really care?" Hana muttered.

"No matter, let's just start practice," Yamamoto called.

"What about the third year?" Jackal murmured to Marui.

He popped another gum bubble, "does he ever get invited to our extra practices? Nope."

Jackal nodded sadly.

"Hey bucho," Kirihara called Yukimura, "why are we having a joint practice that nobody knew was joint until today?"

Yukimura gave a small smile, "we wanted a practice where you would have to adapt to quickly. Let's start off in pairs."

"Translation: I still want to crush Yamamoto, let's start off in pairs," Niou whispered to Yagyuu.

"I was going to allow you to pick your own pairs but I guess we will draw instead," Yukimura's smile tightened.

"Wonderful job Niou-kun," Yagyuu slapped him on the back.

"Does he really want to crush me?" Yamamoto murmured to Sanada.

He shrugged, "nothing personal."

"Renji, would you do the honors?" Yukimura asked him.

Yanagi nodded and pulled a piece of paper out of his bag and began writing down their names.

"Sanada, may I have your hat?" Yukimura held out his hand.

"What?"

He pushed his hand out further in a 'you will obey me' manner.

Sanada sighed and gave up his hat. Yanagi tore up the pieces of paper and put it in the hat.

Yukimura shook it up.

"Yagyuu Hiroshi and Kouda Suzume," he drew.

They nodded.

"Takeuchi Hana and Marui Bunta," he continued.

Marui eyed Hana.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing," he shook his head.

"Yanagi Renji and Kirihara Akaya."

"I guess I'm your partner senpai," Akaya shrugged.

Yanagi smiled knowingly.

"Niou Masaharu and Suzuki Nakikora."

The two sat on the bench calmy and exchanged a smirk.

"Kuwahara Jakal and Aiko Makio."

Makio grunted and sat back on the bench.

"Sanada Genichirou and Nakamura Mayumi."

Sanada gave a stiff nod but Mayumi looked nervous.

_I hope I can keep up with him._

"Hara?"

"Can run laps for being late," Nori folded her arms, "I'm tired of her excuses."

"Now that we're partnered up," Niou yawned, "what are we doing?"

"Seven point doubles," Yanagi got up. "Each pair plays another for a 7 point win."

"Like a tie break?" Mayumi asked.

Yanagi nodded, "Except it ends at 7 points no matter what."

"Are the captians teaming up?" Makio eyed the captians.

"No, we will be observing," Nori folded her arms.

Makio rolled her eyes. Typical captian excuse.

"Since you seem so eager why don't you and Jackal play against Yanagi and Kirihara first," Yukimura smiled.

"Whatever," she shrugged her shoulders.

"But first," Nori narrowed her eyes, "out with the piercings."

"What?" she looked at Nori as if she had just told her to cut off her arm.

"I'm not asking you to do anything you haven't done before," she crossed her arms, "just the extra ones."

Nori produced a Zip loc bag from her tennis bag, and handed it to Makio. She scowled and snatched it up.

She walked to the bench and pulled her hair in a ponytail with her neon streak resting on the side of her head. She expertly pulled out 4 cartilage piercings and 2 ear bars and put them in the bag with a chink.

She tossed the bag to Yamamoto.

"Happy?"

"Ahem," Nori pointed to her stomach.

"Oh, give me a sec," she pulled up her shirt revealing her stomach.

She unscrewed a bellybutton ring that was surrounded by an inking of two gold and white koi fish circling her bellybutton.

_A tattoo?_ Yukimura mused.

He glanced over at Nori, who was unphased by the markings on her teammate.

"New one?" Nori gave a half smile as Akio handed over the last piercing.

"If having it for 2 months makes it new," she snorted.

She finally joined Jackal on the court as he looked at her in bewilderment.

"You have a problem?" Makio challenged him.

He shook his head. Makio turned her focus back to the other pair. Yanagi was bouncing the ball up and down.

"Here I go."

Makio stomped off the court in fury. How could they have lost 7 to 3!

She pulled her towel out of her bag and wiped the sweat off her face.

_Probably Jackal's fault _she thought bitterly. She threw the towel in discust.

"The sooner you get over it the better you'll feel."

"Don't try and psycoanalyize me Nori," Makio grunted, "it won't work."

Nori gave a small smile and sat down on the bench next to Aoki.

"Alright I won't. But I will tell you what you need to improve on."

Makio sat there, half listening.

"Your playing was sloppy and you weren't playing with a doubles mindset," Yamamoto said firmly.

"So much for a pick me up," Aoki muttered.

"I'm not here to give you a pick me up," Nori sighed, "but here's what you can do to improve: learn to trust people. If you had trusted Jackal to back you up, you would have earned more points."

"Trust people?" Makio scoffed, "in case you haven't noticed I play singles. I trust nobody."

"You know that's not true," Nori looked at her, "you just don't trust very many people. You're afraid to. The point is you need to trust more people."

"There are very few people worthy of trust," Makio looked away. "And besides, I TRUST NOBODY."

"Do you?" Nori pulled Makio's bag of treasured piercings out of her pocket and set them on the bench next to her.

Makio stared at the bag. She had entrusted it to Nori.

"Think about it."

Hara Arisu arrived at the tennis courts extremely late. Not that she cared. But had she known they were doing something with the guys today, she might have arrived a little earlier.

But what were they doing?

She climbed up the bleachers to the top to get a better look. Everyone was in pairs and were either playing or watching.

"You," she snapped to the nearest girl a few seats down.

The girl turned to her nervously. Was it that Nakamura girl? She stilled owed her for ruining her shirt. She stared at her for a moment.

"What are we doing?" she pointed at the court.

"S-seven point doubles," Mayumi said weakly.

Seven point doubles? What the heck was that?

"Mayumi! It's your turn!"

"Huh?" she said wide eyed, "oh!"

She quickly got up and tried to pass Hara without any incedent.

_I think it's time I got even_, she smirked.

Hara stuck her foot out to trip Mayumi.

"Nice game Hana," Nakikora high fived her.

Marui and Hana had play Nakikora and Niou, losing 7 to 5.

"Awww cheer up Marui," Nakikora patted him on the back, "you ALMOST beat us."

"But you didn't," Niou smirked at him.

Marui grinned, "we'll beat you guys next time."

The pairing had turned out better than Marui had thought. Hana was like Jackal in a way, being more defense than offense, but that didn't mean she couldn't attack when needed.

"Sorry about that," Hana apologized, "I should have-"

Marui touched her nose.

"You need to relax sometimes," he grinned, "or you'll end up like Jackal over there."

"I heard that!"

Hana giggled. Marui raised a brow. He had never heard Hana giggle. He had heard her shoot off a snide comment or laugh at another one, but somhow Hana didn't seem like the giggly type to him.

He would have to get her to giggle more often.

He was about to say something when he heard a sound.

CRASH!

Everyone turned to the sound to see what was the commotion. At the top of the bleachers stood a horrified Arisu looking down on a crumple figure at the bottom of the bleachers.

"Mayumi-chan?"

A thick red liquid was oozing out the top of her head.

Was that blood?

Marui didn't know who ran faster, Nakikora or Yagyuu.

Nakikora took Mayumi's hand and tried to wake her up. Yagyuu checked her head and wrapped his jersey jacket around it tightly to stop the bleeding.

"Mayumi-chan? Mayumi-chan?" Nakikora pleaded

She was out cold.

"Someone get an ambulence!" Yagyuu ordered.

The jersey was already starting to stain red.

Nakikora started biting back tears as a flurry activity unleashed around her.

[]

Nakikora couldn't remember what exactly happened next between the yelling and the flashing lights and the questions and the surgical intstruments. All she knew was that somehow, she had ended up sitting on a plastic waiting room bench in between Niou and Yanagi.

"I notified her parents," Nori walked into the waiting room with worry etched on her face. Everyone was sitting in the tight square of chairs and benches except for Hara.

She was sitting by herself, pale with worry in every fiber of her being. She was no longer the confident beauty queen she tried to make herself. She was a scared little girl wondering when the nightmare would end.

If it had been a contest, Nakikora could have rivaled her worry. She was just as pale as Hara and wasn't listening to anything. She just stared at the floor with a slight tremble in her body.

But the one who would have won the title of worry was Yagyuu.

He had his absolute best gentleman mask on and was sitting stiffly straight in his chair. It wasn't that he was out of charater, because this was his very best performance yet, it was the fact that he was wearing it too well.

That's what made it wrong.

Yukimura looked at the clock on the fading wallpaper. It read 8:35.

"If we are going to wait for Mayumi's results," Yukimura announced, "we need to get something to eat."

The group exchanged glances.

"I'm staying here," Yagyuu said stiffly.

"The same goes for me," Nakikora croaked.

"I don't think anyone wants something to eat," sighed Suzume.

Nori narrowed her eyes, "I don't think Mayumi would want you to be starving yourselves waiting for her. Why don't we take turns eating?"

Yukimura nodded, "Kirihara, Marui, Jackal, and Yanagi go."

They nodded.

"Suzume, Hana, Nakikora-"

"I said I'm staying here," she said coldly.

"You need to eat something," Yamamoto said firmly, "I'm not going to let you be checked into the hospital because you were too careless to put some food in your body."

Nakikora stared at the floor.

"I'll take her," Yanagi said gently.

He took her by the arms to pull her up but she wriggled free. He tried again with a stronger grip and she still managed the same reaction.

"Nakikora," he said sharply, "if you don't get up I will carry you out of the room."

Nakikora flinched at her name and finally got up on her own volition and followed Yanagi out the door. The rest of the team filed behind them. Yukimura beckoned Jackal over to him.

"Get something for Yagyuu," he whispered.

Jackal gave a nod signifying he understood and walked out the door.

"Why aren't you making Yagyuu go?" Sanada whispered to Yukimura, "you would think he need food the most."

Yagyuu sat cold-faced staring a the wallpaper straight in front of him. Niou was next to him with his face resting on his hands.

"Do you actually think that if I told him to get something to eat that he would listen to me in that state?"

[]

The regulars had found the cafeteria in the left wing of the hospital and had ordered some food. Yanagi walked back to where Nakikora was sitting and placed a sandwich and a water bottle in front of her.

"Eat."

She looked up at Yangai. He gestured at the sandwich.

"Eat."

"Where's your sandwich?" she countered.

"I'm not hungry," he said simply, "but you need something on your stomach. Eat."

She stared at the table. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Do I have to force feed you as well?" he asked her.

She grumbled and took the sandwich out of its wrapper. Nakikora took small bites and sipped at her water. Yanagi sat down.

"You are very stubborn, Nakikora-chan," he frowned.

_Not when I'm around you_, her face softened.

She didn't look at him. He tried to study her face.

"What?" she said, feeling suddenly self concious.

"I'm trying to figure you out," he told her, still looking at her expression.

"There's not much to figure out," she tried hiding her face under her bangs.

"Really? Then enlighten me," he rested his head on his hands in a thoughtful position.

"I'm normal," she said flatly.

He raised his eyebrows, "define normal."

"Nothing is done exceeding proficient," she shrugged.

"You made the tennis team," he pointed out, "that makes you better than 89% of the Rikkaidai girls at tennis."

"Ooooh," she snorted, "I can hit a ball over a net. I'm so awesome."

"I'd be careful if I were you," he said with a covert smile, "if you told Sanada that there's a 92% chance he would 'Tarundoru' your face off."

Nakikora laughed.

"I didn't know you could joke," Nakikora chuckled.

"Ah, I can't really. If you asked me to tell my best joke about the two math teachers you wouldn't think I could."

Nakikora chuckled again. Then the chuckle died in her throat and the smile faded away.

"You're good," she stared at her food, "you pretended to try and collect my data and I almost forgot about Mayumi."

Yanagi did a mental blink.

_You overestimate me_, he thought sadly. _I'm still trying to figure you out._

Nakikora's cell phone beeped. She opened it and stared at the little screen for a long time.

"The doctor has the results."

The last of the regulars entered the room and gathered around the doctor. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"She was lucky," he grimaced, "she was brought fairly quickly and I congradulate whoever thought of applying pressure to her head. It kept her from losing all her blood, but she did lose a considerable amount."

Niou gave Yagyuu a clap on the shoulder but Yagyuu still stayed motionless.

The room was tense.

"She had to be stitched up fairly quickly and we didn't know if she would pull through. She was touch and go for awhile."

The air got slightly tighter.

"There was no brain damage and she finally regained conciousness and is sleeping soundly right now."

There was a collective exhale from the group. People ran fingers through their hair and rubbed their eyes. Hara had collapsed in her chair and had her hands covering her face. Nakikora was hunched over in her chair rubbing tears out of her eyes.

The most drastic change was Yagyuu.

His cold gentleman mask he had worn for almos 5 hours now lay on the floor shattered in pieces. He let out a small gasp and took off his glasses. He rubbed his eyes. Niou gave him a small pat on the back. Color finally went back in his face

"When can we see her?" Nori prompted.

"Tomorrow morning during visiting hours," the doctor said, "her body needs rest after fighting for conciousness. She'll be out of the hospital in a few weeks."

Nori nodded and stood up.

"Everyone go home. We can visit her tomorrow."

The team got up and began filing out.

"Hara," Yamamoto called, "wait a few minutes, I want to speak to you."

She nodded wordlessly and waited outside the door.

Yukimura and Yamamoto stopped at the doorway and glanced back. The only ones still on plastic benches were Niou, Nakikora, Yagyuu and Yanagi.

The two looked at each other, then glanced at them.

"Are you guys going home?" Nori called out to them.

They shook their heads. They were still worried about Mayumi.

The captain glanced at each other again and then called the doctor over.

"If Mayumi's health changes," Yukimura prompted, "would you be kind enough to inform them?"

The doctor nodded complacently and walked out of the waiting room.

"Hey," Yukimura called to the others.

They looked at him.

"Get some rest," he smiled.

And they walked out of the waiting room.

"Hara," Yamamoto barked.

The girl flinched.

"Come with me."

Nori took her to a deserted corridor and turned to her, studying her with her gray eyes.

"What did you do to Mayumi?" she asked.

"What makes you think I did something to her?" Arisu glared at her.

"The fact that you were at the top of the bleachers when she fell and that you were stark white in that waiting room," Nori eyed her, "do you care to explain?"

Arisu's glare fell, "I tripped her."

Nori felt her anger rising, "you tripped her to make her fall all the way down the bleachers?"

"No! I just wanted her to fall a little bit! I didn't want her to break her skull open."

Nori's gaze became intense, "you purposely wanted her to fall, but you didn't think she might possibly fall all the way down the bleachers?"

Hara fell silent.

"That is inexcuseable, I may have been a pushover when you assigned extra work for the girls to do but no more! Your dad may be buying your way into the regulars, but it won't be like that anymore."

"I'm sorry," Arisu pleaded, "I'll do laps! I'll come to practice on time!"

"Yes you will," Nori held the cold expression, "for being late and never doing what you were told, but not for hurting another teammate out of vengance over a stupid shirt. Yes, Suzume told me about it."

Hara felt her eyes water.

"I will not have someone on my team that is willing to cause harm to get her way, consider yourself suspended until you can pull your act togther," Nori began to walk away.

She turned.

"And just because you might get back on the team doesn't mean you will ever get the title vice captian again."

Nori walked out of the corridor leaving Hara to wallow in her shame.

[]

Sanada stood by the door of the hospital. Nori came walking out looking tired.

"I know it's rather late Yamamoto-san, but do you still want that drink?" Sanada offered.

"I would kill for a coffee right now," Nori managed a smile, "and call me Nori."

They went to a small coffee shop down the road where Sanada had bought two coffees. He placed them on the table. Nori slid hers to herself and took a small sip. She looked outside and stared at the darkness.

Sanada watched her carefully.

"Something troubling you?" Sanada sipped his coffee.

"No," she shook her head, "well... I'm worried about Mayumi, as well as, other things."

Sanada raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

She told him the conversation she just had with Hara.

"I'm just having second thoughts about doing that," she ran her fingers through her hair.

"Don't," Sanada assured her, "you did the right thing."

"Now I'm worried about the rest of the team," she sighed, "one of our doubles will be out of practice and now I have to find another singles if Hara doesn't come through."

Nori sighed again and took another sip of her coffee.

"I just don't know what to do."

Sanada studied her face and saw the look of uncertainty on her expression. He remembered the feeling well. He had felt it every day while Yukimura was in the hospital. He never knew what was going to happen but he pushed his team to become better in spite of it. He pushed for wins and accepted no losses because of it.

He took another sip of coffee.

"Do what feels right. It's gotten you this far."

Nori looked up a him.

Do what feels right?

_I never pegged him as cryptic,_ Nori smiled inwardly.

Sanada and Nori finished their coffee. They tossed it in the trash and left some money on the table. They left the shop and walked to the bus stop.

Do what feels right.

Nori accidentally brushed her hand against Sanada's.

"Sorry," she apologized.

He nodded.

Do what feels right.

He glanced at the night sky with its small glittering stars.

Do what feels right.

Maybe it was time for Sanada to follow his own advice.

She brushed his hand again, only this time he took it.

Nori looked up at Sanada in surprise.

Sanada just held his gaze elsewhere.

Do what feels right.

[]

The scene was something to behold and Yanagi didn't know how he got stuck in it.

But that was okay.

Niou had goine to find a vending machine to get a drink since the cafeteria was closed and Yagyuu had fallen asleep from exaustion and was laying back in his chair with his chair with his glasses on the table next to him.

Nakikora had fallen asleep and was curled up on a bench.

With her head on Yanagi's lap.

He still didn't know how it happened.

One minute she was leaning on his shoulder, the next she slid down to his knees.

Yanagi watched the girl adjust slightly in her sleep as her hair fell into her eyes. He felt a sudden urge to tuck the hair behind her ear but resisted. He sat there for what felt like an eternity with the drowsy girl on his lap.

Finally, Niou walked into the room with a can of coffee and glanced at the sleeping people and the helpless Yanagi. He blinked.

Niou snorted and shook his head. He walked over to them and sat down in front of Yanagi. Nothing was said for a long time.

"Comfortable?" Niou sniggered.

"Nakikora seems to think so," Yanagi shrugged.

"How did it happen?"

"That's something I'd like to know myself," Yanagi sighed.

Niou snorted again, "You're whipped."

"Pardon?"

"Whipped. She has you under her thumb," he explained, "on a leash."

"Doesn't that apply to dating relationships?" Yanagi raised a brow.

"I thought you were dating her," Niou blinked at him.

"I thought YOU were dating her," Yanagi said.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"So who is she dating?" Niou said slowly.

"No one?"

"Ah," Niou nodded, "so she's up for grabs."

Yanagi frowned,"'up for grabs' is a rather demeaning statement."

"So you do care about her," Niou watched his expression.

Niou returned to silence and sipped his coffee onced more.

"Niou-kun?"

Niou looked at Yanagi at the mention of his name.

"Why did you stay to see Nakamura-san when you could have easily gone home?"

Niou studied the Datamaster carefully.

"Personal interests," he finally decided on.

In other words Yanagi wasn't going to get a word more.

"How about you?"

"I personally find two emotionally comprimised people alone, togther, in the middle of the night, to make very poor decisions without some type of level headed figures."

Niou processed his words.

"You could have just settled for 'I was worried,'" Niou looked at him.

"Well, it's nice to know that you are, in fact, smart, Niou-kun," Yanagi chided, "some were beginning to think all your brains were wasted on trickery."

Niou gave him a sarcastic smile and rested his head on the back of his chair. He went back to sipping the coffee. Yanagi looked down at Nakikora again. With her face expressionless and her eyes closed, she looked so peaceful.

Niou took a glance at Yagyuu. Then at Nakikora. When he saw Yanagi had noticed he went back to resting his head on the back of the chair as if nothing ever happened.

"You seem to care about them very much," Yanagi stated.

"Yeah well, tricks aren't as much fun when the people you play them on are broken," he shrugged.

Yanagi smiled inwardly. Niou did care about other people besides himself.

"And you seem to be less annoying than I thought you were," Niou smirked, "at least around Nakikora."

Yanagi remained faceless.

"You don't-"

"'You don't finish other people's sentnces as much' is what you were going to say," Yanagi crossed his arms with smugness.

"Always have to have the last word don't you?"

"Just putting this out here," Yanagi continued, "but do I finish people's sentences as much as I could?"

Niou thought for a moment.

"I suppose you don't," Niou offered, "considering how much data you have."

Nakikora shifted in her sleep again and said something so quietly Yanagi almost didn't hear her.

"Renji..."

There was a soft smile on her face.

Yanagi looked up at Niou to see if he had heard the soft spoken word that came from Nakikora's lips. The smirk on Niou's face supplied him with his answer.

Niou propped up his feet in and nearby chair and closed his eyes.

"Guess I'll get some rest," he yawned.

Yanagi nodded and looked down at Nakikora for what seemed like the hundreth time, and adjusted slightly to a more comfortable position. He made sure Nakikora wasn't disturbed and totally shut his eyes to embrace the blissful blackness.

* * *

That's the end of chapter 6! I hope you enjoyed.

I'm testing out some pairings but nothing is final until the end.

Please take a look at the fluff fic once it's posted and don't forget to review!

Thanks :)


	7. Hospital visits

Okay, so I haven't been updating regularly (sorry! sorry! sorry!) but since my exams are coming up fast I won't be updating as much. More like every other week.

Enjoy this one. I tried for more humor :)

* * *

**Chapter 7: Hospital Visits**

_Nakikora yawned and rubbed her eyes. She looked around, unsure of her surroundings._

_Cheap wallpaper, plastic covered seats,_

_Ah. The hospital._

_She looked up to Yanagi's sleeping face. She gave a small smile and leaned up to wake him up from his peaceful sleep with a little surprise..._

Yanagi jerked awake. He touched his face, feeling the beads of sweat that had popped up on his face. It had only been a dream.

Yanagi sighed and glanced at the weight on his lap. Nakikora was still asleep, dreaming peacfully. Yanagi glanced at the clock on the wall. 7:26.

He glanced around the room where Niou and Yagyuu were sleeping. Niou had managed to twist himself into some incovcieveable position while it seem Yagyuu hadn't moved an inch.

Yanagi decided to wake Nakikora up before Niou woke and all Hell broke loose.

"Nakikora," he nudged her gently, "it's time to get up."

She adjusted in her sleep.

"Come on," he rubbed her back, "you have to get up."

Slowly Nakikora began to open her eyes. She glanced around at her surroundings.

"I find it hard to believe my legs are that comfortable," he chuckled slightly.

"Did I sleep like this the entire night?" she looked up at him, red tainting her cheeks.

He nodded.

She got up and sat normally.

"Sorry for the inconvience," she blushed.

"It's fine," he waved it away.

He looked at the other two.

"Should we wake them up?" he asked her.

"Why not?"

Yanagi gently shook Yagyuu to conciousness while Nakikora had other plans.

"What are you doing?" Yanagi asked her as Yagyuu began to put on his glasses.

Niou was perched in mid air between two chairs and Nakikora was pushing them farther apart.

"I'm waking Niou up," she grinned.

Yanagi and Yagyuu watched Nakikora scoot the chairs until Niou was barely hanging on. Nakikora sat down on the chair next to Niou with a smug expression.

"NIOU!"

He jerked awake, which resulted in the final push of the chair. Niou landed on the floor with a thud.

"Ugh," he groaned, "what was that for?"

"Whatever you had planned for today," Nakikora said slyly.

He rolled his eyes, "And why didn't you two stop her?" he glanced at the two faceless boys.

"I just woke up," Yagyuu stated.

"I just wanted to see what whould happen next," Yanagi said bluntly.

Niou growled at his teammates' lack of help.

"Well now," Yagyuu pushed the creases out of his shirt, "now that that's sorted out, what are we going to do about breakfast? I ran out of money last night."

"Same here," Yanagi stated.

Niou got off the floor and started rifling through Nakikora's bag.

"Hey!" Nakikora started, "what are you doing?"

Niou pulled some Yen from one of the pockets of bag.

"Getting some money for breakfast," Niou grinned.

[]

They walked into the cafeteria where the 2nd years ordered 3 coffees and a tea. Niou managed to find packets of sugar in Nakikora's bag and passed them out as Yagyuu walked up with his tea.

"Tea is for weenies," NIou sniffed as Yagyuu brought the cup over.

"Interesting," Yagyuu put some sugar in the cup, "considering you drink a great deal of it when you come over to my house."

Niou draped himself on Yagyuu.

"Don't give away all my secrets," he gave Yagyuu a provacative smile.

Yagyuu shoved him off promptly.

"Don't be so mean Yeahgyouuu," Niou whined as he leaned on him again.

He was returned a more forceful shove.

"Well," Niou flipped his head in a discusted manner and sauntered over to the open seat.

"Drama queen," Nakikora snorted as she sipped her coffee.

Niou's eyes flashed, but he held it down with a smirk.

"Have you ever thought about being nice to each other?" Yanagi stirred his coffee with a spoon.

"Are you kidding?" Niou said in disbelief, "it's hard to JUST play harmless pranks on her much less be NICE to the fat, old hag."

Nakikora bristled in her seat but didn't rise to the bait. Yanagi was still uneasy about Niou's interpretation of "harmless".

"Did you hear me Kiko?" he leaned in. "Fat. Old. Hag."

She glared at him, "shut. your. face."

Nakikora looked ready to jump over the table and throttle Niou.

Yanagi wished HE had kept his mouth shut.

"So what's the plan for today?" Yagyuu quickly changed the topic.

"Let's wait for another hour to Nakamura-san catch up on her sleep," Yanagi advised, grateful for the intervention, "and get ourselves in order."

Everyone looked around the table.

They were a mess.

Most of their clothes were slightly out of place and their hair disheveled. But it came with the territory of sleeping on the world's most comfortable hospital chairs that poked old springs in your back.

"No wonder the cashier looked scared when Nakikora paid him," Niou shook his head.

Nakikora stuck her tounge out at him. Apparently maturity wasn't on her list of things that she woke up with that day.

"Why don't we get Nakamura-san something?" Yagyuu suggested.

"Like flowers?" Yanagi said curiously.

Yagyuu nodded.

"No better way to propose than a boquet of flowers," Niou snorted in his coffee.

Yagyuu gave him a reproachful glance.

"There's a floral shop just outside the hospital," Nakikora pointed out, "why don't we go check it out?"

"That's a good idea," Yanagi agreed. "But first let's find bathrooms so we can clean ourselves up a bit. There's no need in scaring any more people this morning."

Nakikora found herself wanting to throttle more than just Niou.

[]

Mayumi's eyes fluttered open to a white washed ceiling.

_Where am I?_

She felt a sharp pain in her head. She reached her hand up to her scalp.

It was covered in gauze.

She pushed her hand back in its orginal position, but felt a small tug. She glanced down at her wrist to find an IV protruding from it.

_Oh, the hospital._

Mayumi rested her head back on the pillow and tried to remember what happened. The last thing she remembered seeing was the surprised look on Hara's face, and then concrete.

Mayumi let her fingers travel her face and feel the cuts and bruises she had winced slightly as she felt a particularly large scratch down her cheekbone.

She sighed in defeat and went back to laying motionless on the bed.

There was a soft knock on the door.

Did she have a visitor?

"Come in," she said weakly.

The door swung open to reveal Niou, Yagyuu, Nakikora, and Yanagi.

"He Mayumi-chan," Nakikora smiled softly, "how are you?"

"I guess I'll be okay," Mayumi returned the smile, "but my head hurts a little."

"We brought you flowers," Niou showed her the vase of pink tulips,"you know, something to brighten the room."

He put them on the window sill.

"Well thank you Niou-kun," she brightened, "they are very pretty."

"In truth," Niou whispered in her ear, "'ol Hiroshi here picked them out for you."

"Oh? Is that true Yagyuu-kun?"

He nodded politely and sat down in a chair. The others followed suit. Mayumi was taken aback by the lack of emotion Yagyuu was showing. Though, Yagyuu didn't show much emotion to begin with.

"You know," Niou said slyly, "Yagyuu here was worried sick about you."

Mayumi blinked. Had he really?

Yanagi nodded in agreement, "he had to work 86% harder to keep his emotions down and with such strong emotions he was feeling, it still wasn't enough to throw people off."

Yagyuu sat motionless.

"Oh come on, stop picking on poor Yagyuu," Nakikora chided, "why don't we do something else?"

"Alright," Niou pulled a pack of cards out of his pocket.

"Where did you get those?" Nakikora asked, bewildered.

"Your bag," he pulled them out of the box and began shuffling them, "that bag has everything, Kiko!"

"Even a swimming pool?" Yagyuu asked, amused.

"No, that's in the upgrade."

The guys pulled chairs up to Mayumi's bedside table while Nakikora help Mayumi gently prop herself up.

"What are we playing?" Nakikora asked as she sat down.

"How about poker?" Niou offered.

"Does Nakikora's bag have poker chips too?" Yagyuu said in a sardonic tone.

"No, but mine does," Niou produced a poker chip holder and set it on the table. Niou finished shuffling and dealt the cards.

[]

It was a fairly interesting card game considering the players.

(picture the sequences with some spy music XD)

**Yanagi Renji**: _data master who can guess the next draw as well as your hand._

**Niou Masaharu**: _trickster by day, elite gambler by night._

**Suzuki Nakikora**: _the girl who read you movement like she was reading a book._

**Yagyuu Hiroshi**: _the ultimate pokerface._

And then there was Mayumi.

"Man, Mayumi, you're wiping us out," Niou shook his head.

She giggled and captured the pot.

"Remind me to never play with you for real money," Nakikora told her, "you make me look like I suck."

"You do suck," Niou told her.

"Your mom sucks," she stuck out her tounge.

Maturity was MOST DEFINITELY NOT given to Nakikora that day.

"No, your mom sucks," Niou countered.

"Your mom is so fat she thinks the ocean is a kiddie pool."

"Your mom is so ugly she went to enter an ugly contest but the judges told her 'sorry, no professionals'."

"Your mom is so fat," Yanagi enterupted their fight in an irritated manner, "that when scientists use 300% when they talk about her.

Everyone stared at Yanagi for a moment.

"And I thought you were kidding when you said you couldn't joke."

[]

They game continued for another half hour.

"Well, I'm out," Yanagi laid his cards on the table.

"Same here," Nakikora slid her cards to the deck..

The only ones who were still in was Mayumi, Niou, and Yagyuu.

"Last round," Niou gave a grin, "all or nothing."

They nodded and the cards were passed out.

Nakikora and Yanagi had removed themselves from the table so that the only ones there were the players.

They glanced around the table at each other while cards were drawn and discarded.

The final hand was finished.

"Ace, two, three, four," Niou grinned.

Yagyuu's mouth twitched.

"Straight tens," Yagyuu laid down.

Mayumi remained faceless.

"Royal flush," she yawned.

Everyone stared at her.

"I win," she smiled.

She pulled the chips in with a smirk of victory.

"It's always the quiet ones," Niou shook his head.

"When did you learn to become such a card shark, Nakamura-san?" Yanagi asked her.

"When my grandfather was alive he and his buddies played poker alot at the house," Mayumi shrugged, "and being the innocent five year old I was, they allowed me to play more often than not."

"Intriging," Yanagi made a mental note.

"Hello all," Yukimura opened the door with a smile.

Yukimura and Sanada entered the room.

"We just came by to check on Mayumi-san," Yukimura smiled again.

Sanada nodded.

Mayumi smiled, "I feel better than I did yesterday, if that makes any difference."

Yukimura chuckled. He glanced around the room.

"My, my, have we been busy. Poker?"

"Mayumi is a card shark," Niou muttered. "If I was a betting man-"

"You are a betting man Masaharu."

"- I would lose all my money to her."

"I used to play a mean game a poker," Yukimura said offhandedly.

"Is that a challenge?" Mayumi's eyes glinted as those of a predator.

"I suppose it is," he gave a sly smile.

"By all means," Niou got out of his chair, "I always wanted to see bucho get beaten at something."

[]

Yagyuu was studying the poker game carefully.

It wasn't every day that his captian was losing at poker.

If Yukimura knew how much in trouble he was, he didn't show it.

Yagyuu was waitng for him to crack.

"You are a good player," Mayumi smiled coyly, and began chatting with Yukimura.

Yukimura nodded at appropriate times, trying not to lose concentration.

Yagyuu's outer demeanor sat complacently.

His inner self was smirking at Mayumi's clever trick.

"I raise," Yukimura finally said.

"Call," Mayumi nodded.

Yagyuu had seen their hands. Mayumi's was good, but Yukimura had beat her out.

Mayumi drew a card, and placed it in her hand. She discarded a card and waited for the next move.

Yukimura watched her carefully.

"All in," he said.

She pushed in her pile as well.

They had a stare down for a minute.

"Time to show," Niou announced.

Neither made a move. Yukimura finally let his cards show.

"Six, seven, eight, nine," he smiled triumphantly.

Mayumi didn't move.

"Straight aces," she smirked.

Yukimura's eyes wideneed as the pot, once again, became Mayumi's.

"Well now," Yukimura straightened, "I know when I've been beaten."

Yagyuu had to applaud her. She had single-handedly beat their captian in a game of poker.

"Man, beating all of us AND bucho," Niou wondered, "does that make her a poker ninja or a poker beast?"

"A ninja moves stealthily and kills his opponent with a single blow, while a beast rips and shreds his opponent to pieces," Yanagi stated, "logically speaking, that would make Nakmura-san a poker beast."

Mayumi giggled.

"Sombody talking about my beastliness?"

Jackal, Marui, and Kirihara walked into the room.

"Sorry brat," Niou rested his arm on his shoulder, "no one will ever think you're a beast."

"Mayumi-kun, we bought you some sweets," Marui held a small bag of pastel colored candies.

"You mean I bought some sweets," muttered Jackal.

"Well, I thought of it," Marui said brightly.

Jackal sighed and went to sit down next to Yagyuu.

"Thank you," she nodded with a smile, "I appreciate it."

Everyone found a seat and began a conversation that continued for awhile. Later on, Nori and Makio had shown up, followed by Suzume and Hara carrying a 'get well' balloon.

The party would have gone on longer, but it stoppend when a nurse came in.

"Excuse me," she smiled sweetly, "I know you all came to visit Nakamura-chan, but she really needs her rest so I'm going to have to limit the amount of the visitors to four."

The guys nodded politely and the girls gave a final round of hugs and left room.

The only visitors leftwere the original four.

"Hmmmmm," Nakikora check the clock, "it's almost lunchtime. Why don't a few of us go get something to eat while someone stays and waits?"

Niou nodded, "Yagyuu stays while we go."

"Now wait a minute-"

"Be good," Nakikora smiled, "we'll be back shortly."

"Hold on I-"

"We'll be back in 20 minutes," Yanagi nodded.

"Ah-"

They shut the door.

Yagyuu sighed inwardly. How could they do this to him?

"I think they have this obscene thought that we are in love," Mayumi giggled.

Yagyuu resisted the urge to blush. They didn't "think" that, they "knew" it. At least, that's was Niou kept telling him. And although he had great affections for the girl, he doubted he could call it love. Perhaps infatuation.

"I believe they do, Nakamura-san," Yagyuu agreed with her.

"Mayumi," she told him, "call me Mayumi."

"Alright," he ventured, "Mayumi-san."

Mayumi looked around and gestured for Yagyuu to lean in.

"What are the odd that they're listening in?" she whispered.

"Pretty high," he gave a half smile.

He sat down on her bed.

"How are you?" he asked with concern.

"Better now that you're here," she purred, starting a game.

He had to hold himself down. He shifted uncomfortably.

"You scared me to death when you fell," he leaned in.

"Awww, Yagyuu, I'm sure you would have gotten along fine without me," she teased him.

A surge of pain went across his face.

"Don't say things like that," he snapped.

She tilted her head quizically. He took a calming breath.

"I thought I was going to lose you."

"I heard you did everything to save me," she stared at his glasses.

He said nothing.

"Surely I don't mean that much to you," she argued with him.

"But you do," Yagyuu whispered to himself, "you mean that and so much more."

Where were these words coming from?

"Isn't this going a little far?" Mayumi whispered.

Since he was already in over his head, Yagyuu decided to take it all the way.

Yagyuu took off his glasses and let Mayumi see all pent up raw emotion inside his eyes.

"I meant every word of it."

He turned away so that Mayumi wouldn't the shame that covered his face. Mayumi touched his cheek beckoning him to look at her. Slowly, he obeyed her request.

She stared at his eyes in wonder, letting all the swirling emotions drown her.

Why hadn't she noticed before?

There was a soft knock on the door. Mayumi would have let the call go unanswered, but Yagyuu got up and put his glasses back on.

"Come in," he called.

A nurse walked in with a tray of bandages and ointments, as well as a small cup of pain pills.

"It's time to change the gauze," the nurse gave Mayumi a small smile.

She set the tray on the table.

"Does your boyfriend want to wait outside?"

Mayumi blushed at the word 'boyfriend' but Yagyuu shook his head, "It's fine."

The nurse nodded and took off the attachments of the gauze. She took the end of the wrapping and slowly began to unwind the dirty bandages, revealing a long, deep gash held togther by black stitches.

Yagyuu felt his skin crawl. He tried to hold an indifferent sitting position.

Mayumi winced slightly as the nurse gently rubbed salve on her scalp. Yagyuu caved at her pain.

He took her hand as the nurse finished wrapping the fresh gauze. Mayumi gave his hand a grateful squeeze.

"What a good patient," the nurse gave her a sweet smile, "and you have such a sweet boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," Mayumi blushed, and let go of his hand as if it proved her point.

The nurse grinned knowingly, "then you two must have a REALLY special friendship."

Mayumi nodded silently.

The nurse took that as her cue to exit, leaving the medecine on the table. Once the nurse was gone, Mayumi studied Yagyuu carefully.

"Did you mean it?" she asked him.

"Mean what?" he looked at her.

"All that you said... earlier. Did you mean it?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but there was another knock on the door.

He sighed and nodded his head.

"Come in," Mayumi sighed.

The three came back from their outing.

Niou glanced at the melancholy two sitting next to each other.

"What's wrong?" Niou said with a pouty face, "did we not give you enough time to-"

"We bought some bentos and a small cake," Nakikora cut him off, holding up a large brown bag.

Yagyuu nodded patiently and opened the bag to pass out the bentos.

"What?" Niou looked around, "if you want some makeout time we could always go out in the hallway for a good 10 minutes."

Mayumi blushed a deep crimson and Yagyuu pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose a little further.

"Niou-kun," Yanagi prodded Niou, "you remember that comment I made about you being smart?"

"Yeah?"

"I take it back."

[]

The group ate their lunch with gusto and pushed passed all akwardness to light conversation as the food settled into their stomachs.

"But that's impossible," countered Yagyuu, "it defys the laws of physics."

"No it doesn't," Mayumi shook his head, "I've seen it done."

"Watch," Niou pulled out a sheet of paper out of Nakikora's bag and began folding it quickly and cleanly.

He passed the folded creation to Nakikora, who flexed her wrist a few times and flicked the little thing into the air. Midair it unfurled itself into a plane with wings and began doing loops in the air.

The loops got lower and lower until it landed in Mayumi's lap.

"So that's how you make a self folding paper airplane," Yanagi mentally recorded the procedure.

Mayumi laughed. She picked up the little plane and examined it. Mayumi had asked Niou to make one on a whim she had, but Yagyuu didn't believe it could be done.

Mayumi had always liked the little creation because even though it was a plane, it always reminded her of a bird.

She flicked it in the air and watched it soar in circles. She wished she could just jump out of her hospital bed and fly away from the pain.

Mayumi suddenly felt extremely tired.

Her friends had entertained her all day, and she was grateful, but she had been awake for what seemed like 20 hours.

Mayumi sighed and rested her head on the pillow and shut her eyes. She was so very tired.

Mayumi wanted to tell them to leave, but that would be extremely rude of her, and she thought more of her friends than that.

"I'm sorry, but I think it's time to go," Nakikora winked at her.

Apparently they were thinking on the same wavelength.

Niou looked slightly confused, but Yagyuu caught on.

"Get some rest," Yagyuu told her.

Nakikora gave her a hug, and the boys nodded goodbye. They shut the door and Mayumi sighed contentedly.

She closed her eyes and took in the scent of the tulips. They really were very pretty.

Mayumi wondered if Yagyuu had known what pink tulips actually meant. It would have been a nice thought that Yagyuu actually wanted to tell her that he cared.

* * *

End of chapter 7! Not as long as some of the others but I added more humor than the last chapter.

My think tank is running slightly dry, so any inspirational thoughts is appriciated.

On a separate note, I've been trying to figure out how many people actually read this so if you could drop a review, it would be appriciated as well.

Thank you for your patience :)


	8. Why I quit betting

FINALLY! I'm done! That took WAY TOO LONG to post. But I'm done. Sooooo... Enjoy! :)

* * *

**Chapter 8: Why I quit betting**

10 days had gone by since the accident and the girl's tennis club was settling into a would go to practice and train hard in the morning so they could leave 10 minutes early to visit Mayumi.

But this morning practice, Nori thought her head was going to explode.

She had heard of some of the head-splitting migranes Sanada and Yanagi had had when Yukimura was in the hospital, but she never expected to have one of her own.

Nori had left for only 3 minutes to check something and had come back to find Makio yelling at some first year for hitting her with a tennis ball.

The first year was on the verge of tears.

Nakikora and Hana were a few feet away, sniggering with ball and racket in hand.

Nori turned, hoping to fin the rest of her team doing something more productive.

How wrong she was.

Suzume was surrounded by other 2nd and 3rd year players listening advidly to the latest piece of juicy gossip.

Nori growled. This was unacceptable.

"EVERYONE!" she barked, "60 laps!"

All the girls looked up to their captian and fell silent. Nori felt a vein pop out of her forehead.

"If you don't start running in the next seven seconds," her voice got deadly, "you can all run 150 laps."

Somehow within 4 seconds, everybody was running around the courts with the regulars in front. Yamamoto clenched her teeth and hoped her face hadn't turned purple.

A nearby bush snickered.

_Bushes don't snicker_, she thought angrily. _Or have green hair._

She yanked at the green clumps until Kirihara came wincing up.

"Ow! Ow! Let me go!"

"Care to explain why you seem to be living in the bushes?" Nori's cold eyes searched his wincing face.

"I was just watching," he tried looking innocent.

"Since you think you can just watch without getting caught, you can run with the rest of them."

"Eh?"

"You heard me. 60 laps. Now."

"You can't tell me what to do! You're not my captain!" Kirihara tried to wriggle out of the iron clad grip.

"You really want to argue with me?" she yanked his head again.

He winced at the pain.

"GO."

Not wanting to lose any more hair, Kirihara ran to the courtsand started doing laps with the rest of them.

[]

Yukimura was not happy.

He had sent his faithful first year to find the late Datamaster. Several minutes later, Yanagi had shown up on his own volition, WITHOUT Kirihara.

"Where is he?" Yukimura muttered.

"There is a 67% probability he got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do," Yanagi noted.

"Well then," Sanada walked amoungst them, "he can to 60 laps when he gets here."

This was one time that he was not going to bail out Akaya, Yukimura decided.

[]

Kirihara scowed as he walked into the classroom. Usually when the world pushed him, he'd push back, but lately the world had been giving him the middle finger, and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

He SO wanted to punch the world.

But his senpais would tell him that punching the world was illogical and an impossible task to do. At least, Yanagi and Yagyuu would.

So he settled for scaring everybody away with vicious expressions.

He sat through the class staring holes into the board while his teacher glanced around nervously every time Akaya looked his way. Akaya got up from his desk to the back of the room to sharpen his pencil.

He returned to his desk to find a note in his book.

_Kirihara-kun,_

_Whats wrong? I know it probably wasn't the best morning, but if you glare at sensei one more time, he's going to have a heart attack.(Personally I thought it was kind of funny when bucho pulld you up by the hair) XD_

_You're probably wondering why I'm talking to you in math class... you've guessed it, I'm in your math class as well!_

_I think I'm giving away too many hints, but, it's already out there. :)_

_I'm worried about Mayumi-senpai. I know she's recovering very quickly, I just hope she doesn't have any lasting damage. Have you seen senpai lately? I've wanted to go with the regulars, but my mother won't let me. Can you believe it? I'm almost sixteen and my mother won't let me go to a hospital by myself!_

_Maybe one day I'll sneak out to see her._

_Thanks for listening to my ramblings. I hope you have a better day._

_Your secret admirer._

Akaya smiled and pulled out a piece of paper of his own.

_Admirer-chan,_

_Thanks for your care. Sorry about almost killing sensei. I'll stop._

_And I didn't think it was funny when my hair was yanked. ( I don't want to look like Jackal-senpai!)_

_I went to see Mayumi-senpai a few weeks ago. She seemed kinda weak, but it's better than that unconcious state she was in when we took her to the hospital._

_As far as going to the hospital, I would take you myself... if I knew who you were._

_About that, I'm going to figure out who you are by the end of the year, even if it kills me. You can't stop me :)_

_Have a good day._

_Kirihara Akaya_

He slid the note in his book, knowing it would disappear.

[]

After class, Akaya walked out of the room to look for one of his senpais. Maybe they could help him figure out who the mystery girl was. He saw Niou and Yagyuu in the cafeterioa discussing something that had happened in their class.

Kirihara thought about asking Yagyuu for help, but that would mean having to put up with taunts from Yagyuu's partner in crime.

Akaya thought about asking Yukimura, but then he would be told that he needed to focus on tennis, not some silly girl.

Sanada and Jackal were out of the question, as Kirihara thought they knew nothing about girls.

So he settled for Yanagi, who happened to be talking to Nakikora. And maybe she could help as well.

"Senpais?" Kirihara approached them.

"Yes Kirihara?" Yanagi looked up at him.

"Ummmm, can you help me?" he sat down nervously.

"What exactly do you need help with?" Nakikora gave a small smile, "besides your spying techniques I mean."

Kirihara turned pink. She was as unforgiving Niouo-senpai.

Yanagi raised a brow, "care to elaborate?"

Kirihara stiffened, "I was caught spying this morning."

"On the girls' team," Nakikora rested her head on her arm, "bucho gave him 60 laps."

"So that's where you were this morning."

"That's not important," Akaya stuttered, "I need some help senpai!"

"Alright, alright," Yanagi chuckled, "what do you need help with?"

"Well, there's this girl..." he pushed the letter to Yanagi.

He began scanning the note.

"Oh, the secret admirer?" Nakikora perked up.

Kirihara nodded, "I want to figure out who she is."

"Do you have any other attributes that you know about her?" Yanagi asked as he finished the note.

"Uhhh, she's left-handed, on the tennis team, a first year, and she's in my english class," he listed.

"That should be more than enough," Yanagi pulled out a piece of paper and began writing names on it.

"Hey!" Kirihara glanced at the paper.

It had the names of students in his math and english class.

"How do you know who's in my classes?"

"I'm an office worker," he shrugged, as if the whole situation was cleared up.

"That is slightly stranged," Nakikora sweatdropped.

Yanagi decided NOT to tell her that he knew who was in all of her classes too. Or the fact he knew what classes she had.

"Can you help me with the list?" he turned to her.

They automatically crossed out the boys' names and Nakikora pointed to the ones who were on the tennis team.

"How do you know all the girls on the team?" Kirihara asked curiously.

She gave him a wry smile, "it's good to know who's on your team."

They finally narrowed it down to 3 girls.

"I think I know who it is," Nakikora announced.

Kirihara waited with baited breath.

"Who? Who?"

Nakikora gave him and incredulous look, "I'm not going to tell you and ruin my kouhai's happiness. It just so happens that I work with her from time to time. Sweet girl."

Akaya sighed in exasperation and turned to Yanagi with puppy-dog eyes.

"Do you know?" he asked, as he mustered all the powers of cute he could find.

"I do," Yanagi nodded, "but it just so happens that I find this as a great opportunity to extend your logic."

"EH?"

"Here," he pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and wrote the names of the kids from Kirihara's class on it, "a head start."

"Looks like more work to me," Akaya grumbled as he took the list and started walking off.

If only he had been paying attention to the three names.

"Do you really know?" Nakikora whispered as Kirihara walked away.

He pointed to a name. It was a correct one.

"She was the only one who hasn't turned sixteen yet."

"Ah," Nakikora smiled, "you know birthdays too?"

He sweatdropped "Uh, welll.. I didn't really mean to-"

"Pleas," Nakikora held up a hand, "it's still wierd. But wierd... is okay. I hang out with Niou so wierd is pretty normal."

Yanagi didn't know if he was supposed to take it as a compliment (46.5 percent likely) so he changed the subject back to the original conversation.

[]

"Hold still will ya?" Makio barked at her friend.

Nori flinched slightly at the 3rd year's reproach, but remained in position. After all, it was rather difficult to draw a moving object.

Makio's pencil sketched over the paper, drawing lines that hadn't quite made an image.

"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" Nori muttered.

"Because I have a portrait due tomorrow and if I don't turn this in I'll fail art and be kicked off the tennis team, causing more problems in the regular lineup."

Ah. That was why.

Yamamoto was sitting at a normal desk with a sheet of notebook paper in front of her and a pencil in her hand on the paper. Makio continued making lines on the paper.

She heard the door open. Nori gazed up at the door.

"Hello Yukimura."

Yukimura nodded and smiled.

"Ah, hello Nori, Makio-san."

"Mmph," Makio grunted, "what are you in here for?"

"I just came by to get my sketchbook," Yukimura gestured toward a table.

Yamamoto frowned at Makio's gruff exterior.

"Didn't I tell you not to move?"

Nori forced her expression back into the neutral zone. Yukimura chuckled.

"I see she's got you under her thumb," he hid a smile.

"I can always give her more laps," Nori said, without moving her mouth.

"As if this morning wasn't enough," grumbled Makio.

"Ahn? You had laps this morning?" Yukimura tilted his head,"but you had the courts this morning."

"That's what they get for being goof-offs," Nori scowled again.

"Hey! Do I have to come over there and slap that off of you?"

She forced the glare back down. Yukimura had to hold back another laugh. Nori sometimes acted so much like Sanada, it wouldn't surprise him if he came to school one day wearing a baseball cap muttering 'Tarundoru'.

"Okay, you can take a break," Makio told her.

Nori got up and left the room mentioning something about lunch.

"You're in advanced art, right?" Yukimura asked her.

She nodded.

"The instructor already showed us your picture," he gave a knowing smile, "so why are making Nori 'help' you?"

Makio gave a smirk, "it's a project I'm working on."

She set her sketchbook down and walked out of the room. Yukimura smiled and picked up his own sketchbook to leave the room.

He decided he should have fun with Sanada like that on his next sketch due.

Yukimura got up and walked out, hoping to catch Sanada before lunch ended.

[]

Suzume ran down the halls looking for her doubles partner.

"Hana! Hana? Hana-OOF!"

She ran straight into a guy who was built like a wall.

"Sorry," she smoothed the wrinkles out of her pleated skirt, "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Just be more careful next time."

She looked up at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Hi Jackal!" she smiled brightly, "I didn't see you."

Jackal sweatdropped.

_Am I really that invisible?_ he thought sadly.

"I'm so scatterbrained, I don't think I could notice much," she giggled, "except what I hear. I guess that's why I know so much gossip."

Jackal nodded. Not that he had anything to say.

"Have you seen Hana?" she looked up at him, "I've been trying to find her all lunch period."

"Uh, try the library," he pointed down the hallway.

Suzume nodded happily and continued down the hall with a spring in her step. Jackal shook his head and kept on walking

_And I thought Bunta was hyper._

[]

Suzume went on down the hallway. She passed a few classrooms with very few people and one with Sanada and Yukimura in it. Yukumura had said something to Sanada and was answered with a very profuse shaking of the head. Suzume giggled and ventured on to the library.

She walked in, scouring the library for Hana.

"Hana-chan!" she spotted her and waved.

Three people in the direct vicinity shushed her. Hana rolled her eyes and motioned for her to come over to where she was.

"What's up?" Suzume asked as she sat down at the table.

"I'm trying to write a history paper due next period," she was writing furiously.

"Okay, so this morning I was sitting at my desk and Ren came up and-"

"Suzume," Hana interrupted her, "you know how I have that thing where if someones talking to me and I'm writing something what that person says gets put on paper?"

"Yeah, but Ren came up and was talking about-"

"I'm sure this story is very interesting," Hana went through her words, "but Ito-sensei will not appreciate reading about something Ren said in between the economy of 17th century Japan."

"Oh," Suzume said, dejected.

Hana went back to her paper and Suzume got up and began roaming the library. She usually did not read many books if she could get away with it, but she wanted an excuse to wait and tell Hana what she had heard.

She looked through the shelves of reading material and pulled out a book.

_Origin of Species By Charles Darwin._

Suzume wrinkled her nose at the science text and proceeded to push it back into the shelf. It wouldn't budge.

She stared at the book and gave it a harder shove. Suzume pushed with all her might until the book went in.

"Ow!"

Suzume peered through the hole in the shelf and saw flash of bright pink hair.

"Marui?" she walked into the asile he was in.

"Oh, hey Suzume," Marui rubbed his head, "it's the weirdest thing. I was thinking about the book I would need for my English project and all these books attacked me!"

"Yeah, uh, that was my fault," she scratched her head embarassedly.

He chuckled and they put the books on the shelf.

"What are you doing in the library?" Suzume asked curiously. "I can't picture you as a reader."

"Oh!" he picked up a book a gave to her, "here."

She looked at the cover, "manga?"

He nodded, blowing a gum bubble.

"Really?" she looked at him.

Marui shrugged, "I like a good plot line. Here, read this one. I was going to reread it but you seem to need the influence."

"Uh, thanks," she took the book.

He grinned at her, "cool, well, see ya."

He waved and left the library for the hall. She looked at the book curiously. Suzume had never taken the time to read a manga; she had always assumed that they were all trash. But considering what she listened to, it couldn't be THAT bad.

She flipped to teh first page and began walking back to Hana's table. Suzume sat down and began reading.

[]

Hana finally finished her essay and threw down her pencil. She grasped her hand and hoped it wouldn't fall off in the next six seconds.

"Hey Suzume, what did you want to tell me?" Hana looked up.

Hana found Suzume sitting in complete oblivion, totally absorbed in a book.

"Suzume?" she nudged her shoulder.

"Ssssshhhhhh!" Suzume wave her off, not looking up.

Oh no she didn't, Hana thought. She did not just diss me for a book.

Hana snatched up the book and glanced at the page she was currently reading.

"Manga?"

Suzume glared at her and swiped the book back up, "the guy was about to confess to the girl."

Hana rolled her eyes, "because reading about confessions is something truly worth reading about."

Suzume ignored her and continued reading. Hana sighed and collected all her books to return to their proper places. She was going to kill whoever gave her that wretched book.

The bell rang.

"Come on," Hana dragged Suzume out of the library, STILL reading, "class is about to start."

[]

Niou sauntered into history class and slid into his desk. He was about to ask Nakikora a question but she was staring at something. Niou tilted his head sideways and followed he line of sight. Suzume was reading a book?

"Hey," Yanagi walked into class and sat down in his usual seat.

Nakikora snapped out of her trance and nodded to Yanagi.

"Did you finish your essay?" she asked him.

He nodded, "it only took an hour to write the whole thing."

"That's good," she grinned, "I wouldn't want to have the highest grade in class just because you goofed."

Yanagi raised a brow, "since when have you ever bested me?"

The teacher called for the class to settle down. She took up essays and began class. Kiko started scribbling on a piece of paper and passed it to Niou.

_'You got your essay done?'_

_'Yep. Surprised?'_

_'Frankly, yes. You're such a slacker I can't believe you even come to classes.'_

_'Thanks for your faith in me T-T. Now I'm gonna go in a corner and cry.'_

_'Get over it. I'm sure you'll feel better in a few minutes. Oh, by the way, are we still on for Thursday night?'_

Niou stared at the note.

_'I guess... What are we doing?'_

Nakikora smirked.

_'Caught you Yagyuu.'_

Yes, 'Niou' had been Yagyuu.

_'How did you know it was me?'_

_'Your homework had your name on it. Not that I blame you, I wouldn't trust Masaharu with my homework either.'_

'Niou' smirked.

_'You seem to know our quirks very well'_

_'You could say that.'_

_'How about a wager? Niou-kun and I will switch places 2 more times today and see if you can figure out who's who.'_

_'Hmmmm... Alright, what's the wager?'_

_'If we win you have to play Niou in a tennis match.'_

Nakikora stared at the page.

_'Is that all?'_

_'In a skimpy dress.'_

_'... I never knew you were sick as Masaharu. What happened to Mayumi?'_

_'She is not in this conversation and I refrain from retorting about the former. Besides, the wager was kind of Niou-kun's idea.'_

_'Okay, okay, but if I win, you're the one who's playing in the dress.'_

_'... Who was the sick one again?'_

_'Hey, just making it fair.'_

_'Okay, I'll bite. You have to guess right twice or you lose. Deal?'_

_'Deal.'_

Class ended and 'Niou' smirked at Nakikora and walked out of the classroom. Hana tilted her head at the wierd behavior.

"What's with him?" Hana jerked a finger at the door.

"Identity crisis," Nakikora held back a laugh.

Hana gave her a wierd look and walked away.

"Nobody told me it was 'lets be wierd as all get out day'," Hana muttered, "or I wouldn't have come to school today."

"So," Yanagi cracked his eyes slightly, "I take it that was Yagyuu?"

Nakikora nodded, "they switched for the class period."

Renji shook his head, "it's getting better every day."

Nakikora turned her head back to where Suzume was sitting, STILL READING A BOOK.

"Ah, it apears Kouda-san is absorbed in her reading material," Yanagi circled around her desk.

Nakikora walked up to the front of the desk.

"Manga?" she read the cover, "she can barely get a 5th grade book down much less a manga."

"This is all highly illogical," Yanagi shook his head.

"Then let's do what should be done when something is illogical."

So they left.

Suzume sat there until the next class began and the teacher yelled at her to go on to her next class.

[]

The next class was slightly more interessting, considering how many Yagyuus there were.

"Yagyuu Hiroshi," the teacher called roll.

"Here," said Yagyuu.

"Here," said the other Yagyuu.

The teacher looked up from the roll, alarmed.

"Uh, which one of you is the real one?" the teacher sighed.

"I am."

"No, I am," the other raised his hand.

The teacher sighed. He was used to this kind of thing. At least today he would have two good students instead of one good and one bad... Hopefully.

"Let's begin the experiment for today. Get in groups of four and read the instructions on the table."

Nakikora and Yanagi found themselves at a station togther.

"Is it alright if we join your group?" one of the Yagyuus asked.

Yanagi nodded. Nakikora read the instructions carefully.

"Yagyuu one," she pointed at the first one, "go get the safety goggles."

He nodded and walked to the front of the class.

"Yagyuu two, please hand me the sulfer dioxide," she pointed to a vial.

He passed the vial to her.

Once they had the glasses, they proceeded to mix togther the ingredients until they got the product that was suffice for an A from the teacher. (Potions with Snape! Sorry, Harry Potter moment XD)

"So," Yagyuu one approached them, "have you figured out who's who?"

Nakikora grinned, "Renji, would you the honors?"

"Insufficient data."

Nakikora groaned. Not the data thing again.

"Care to hazard a guess?" she said dryly.

He shook his head, "insufficient data," he repeated.

She sighed. Was he really going to go all glitching kiosk on her, saying INSUFFICENT DATA, INSUFFICENT DATA, INSUFFICENT DATA. She was really going to have to work hard to glean thoughts from him. The Yagyuus looked amused.

"Do YOU know which one of us is Niou-kun?" two asked.

"Yeah," she turned her attention back to them, "it's you, two."

"Oh?" he gave an amused smile, "are you sure?"

She snatched a wig off his head, "I'm fairly sure."

Yanagi did a doubletake. COMPUTING COMPUTING COMPUTING. THIS IS SO FREAKING ILLOGICAL. (he didn't really do that, but still its funny)

"How did you figure it out?"

"This," Nakikora held up the vial 'Yagyuu' had passed to her earlier, "is not sulfer dioxide. Yagyuu, the highest ranked in chemistry class, the real one, would have known and corrected me."

"Ah," Yagyuu straightened his glasses, "it seems we've been foiled."

Niou narrowed his eyes.

"We will win this bet," Niou declared, "and I have sweet revenge waiting for you."

Niou walked away, dragging Yagyuu with him.

"Bet?" Yanagi looked at her curiously, "I didn't think that you were the betting kind."

"I hung out with Niou, remember? I used to bet alot with him, then one bet turned nasty so I kicked the habit."

"Really? You don't look like someone with a gambling problem."

"I told you, I stopped betting. Well, until today. I couldn't resist a bet from Yagyuu."

Yanagi raised a brow, "has Niou ever lost his bets?"

"No," Nakikora admitted, "but the consequences weren't that bad."

"This sounds extremely suspicious," Yanagi glanced around the room, "are you sure you're not being set up?"

"Oh, I am," Nakikora nodded, "but I want to beat them at their own game."

Yanagi sighed, "I'm 87% sure you have no idea what you are doing."

"You have that much right," she smiled at him.

He gave another sigh.

"Just be careful."

"Don't worry," she patted his arm, "I won't bite off more than I can chew."

Yanagi resisted the urge to grab her hand and watched her walk back to the supply cabinet with all the ingredients.

[]

Yukimura walked into math class with Marui and Jackal trailing behind. He sat down at his desk and began pulling his book out of his bag. He blinked.

"Suzume-san?"

She was absorbed in a book. A manga?

He tapped her on the shoulder.

"Huh?" she looked up, confused by the half-empty classroom.

"What period is this?" she asked Yukimura.

"Seventh."

"OH CRAP!"

She grabbed all her stuff in her hands and ran out the door. Yukimura produced and amused smile.

"What was that about?" Jackal sweatdropped slightly.

"I introduced Suzume to manga," Marui said proudly.

Another fine exampe of why Marui was a 'self proclamed' genius.

Jackal sighed, "are you sure that was a good idea?"

Marui shrugged, blowing a bubble of gum, "good as any."

Most definitely a bad idea.

"Wait," Nakikora turned in her seat, "YOU gave her the manga?"

Marui blinked. Where did she come from?

NIou grinned, "now we know where she got the stupid thing, from a stupid person."

Marui flinched. Where did they keep coming from?

"Are you alright Marui?" Yukimura asked him.

Marui jumped in his seat. Oh wait, Yukimura was there eariler.

"Yeah, sure," Marui shook his head. "Anyways, whats today's lesson?"

Jackal looked at the board and glanced at his notes.

"It's just a review," he flipped a page, "why don't we get started?"

Everyone nodded and pulled out their books. Jackal felt good, people were actually listening to him. If only he had see the 'do what he says' glare Yukimura had given them behind his back.

They opened their books and pulled out paper and started revising. The classroom door opened and closed again.

"Sensei can you help me with this-" Marui looked up, "eh?"

Nori smiled and folded her arms.

"I'm not your teacher but I'll gladly help you out."

"Why are you in are math class?" Jackal tilted his head.

"I'm a helper this period so I'm working 2nd year math today," she told him.

"Thats awesome," Marui popped a bubble, "can you help me with this?"

She chuckled and walked to his desk to help him through the problem. Nori spent a good part of the class walking through the room helping students.

"Can you tell me what I did wrong on?" Nakikora asked her.

Nori came over and scanned through her work.

"What? You're not going to ask for help from ME?" Niou pouted.

"I want REAL help for revision," she smirked at him.

Niou shrugged and went back to writing.

"Here's your problem," Nori pointed to her paper, "you added when you should have multiplied."

"Thanks," she smiled

"But," Nori continued, "I'm sure your boyfriend over there could have figured that out for you."

Niou held a smirk on his face but continued working.

"I thought we wern't going to go there," she said darkly, "we've already established this."

"You haven't got this offended since you last liked someone," Nori held a small smile.

Nakikora snorted, "please."

"I think you like someone else... it's 87% likely."

Nakikora gazed up at her._ You really wanna go there? I know you like someone as well._

"Tarundoru," Kiko said steely.

Nori's gaze hardened slightly then walked off to answer another question.

"Did I miss something?" Jackal looked slightly alarmed.

Niou smirked, "I'm not the only one having an identity crisis today."

[]

The last class of the day for Yanagi Renji: English.

He had english with Sanada and Yagyuu, if it even was Yagyuu, and was waiting for the day to end. He had been taking notes half-heartedly, since he had already studied this chapter.

He wanted to see how the bet was going to end.

"Is something the matter?" Yagyuu asked Yanagi after class.

"The matter? I should hope not," Yanagi replied, "unless there is cheating involved."

"I would promise on my honor as a gentleman that we will not cheat, but I might not be a gentleman... Or have honor."

Yanagi gave a light chuckle. They reached the part of the hallway were Niou and Nakikora were talking.

"So Cheeko-chan," Niou said, "have you decided who's who?"

She nodded, "you are who you are."

Niou snorted, "that's not an answer."

"You're Yagyuu," she pointed to the purpled haired boy, "and you're Niou."

"How do you figure that?" Niou looked at her, grinning.

"You guys made no mistakes," she shrugged.

"Nice to know you have faith in us," Yagyuu muttered.

She gave him a smirk.

"But your faith was wasted," Niou pulled off a wig, "because i"m Yagyuu."

He pulled a pair of glasses out of his pocket and put them on.

Nakikora's mouth hit the ground.

"B-but there were no mistakes..." she drifted.

Yagyuu smirked, "come on Kiko-chan," he led her away, "we wouldn't want you to be late for practice."

Yanagi watched as poor Nakikora was herded to tennis practice.

"Well Niou, that was a pretty good trick," Yanagi amended, "it seems that the switch off the courts is perfected."

'Yagyuu' raised and eyebrow, "thank you, I believe it will be a good trick, however, it is far from perfected."

Now it was Yanagi's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that, Niou?"

"I am not Niou," he said simply.

Yanagi glanced at him, "so Niou was really Niou?"

Yagyuu nodded.

"I expected as much," Yanagi sighed, his worst fear confirmed, "and I suppose he's wearing two wigs?"

Yagyuu nodded again.

Yangai shook his head, "Nakikora is going to kill you guys once she figures it out."

Yagyuus glasses glinted from the sun streaming through the window.

"That's why she's playing Niou."

* * *

End of chapter.

Whew! The next chapter is going to be fun, considering how much torture Nakikora's going to go through. *Cue evil laugh*

Please review and tell me how I did.

Thank you for your patience :)


	9. The catalyst of all reactions

Finally done! Please enjoy! :)

* * *

**Chapter 9: The catalyst for all reactions**

Nakikora went through tennis practice with a sense of dread. She couldn't believe that she had been stupid enough to take the bet.

_Dread, dread, dread._

That was all that was going though her mind.

_Please end practice late. So there are no witnesses. Please, please, please._

"Practice ends early today!" Nori called, "hurry and finish your laps!"

Nakikora lagged behind on her last few laps in hopes of being totally alone.

"Nakikora!" Nori called, "you have a visitor."

Dread, dread, dread. She jogged up her captian.

"Ah, Nakikora," Niou grinned, "your bucho was kind enough to lend me to you."

Nori gave a small smile while Nakikora glared at her.

"You're the one making bets," Nori shrugged.

Maybe she shouldn't have egged Nori on in math class.

"I have your prize right here," Niou held up a garnmet bag.

Nakikora took a peek at the dress. Her eyes widened.

"There is no way in cold Hell I am wear this, this monstrosity!" she exclaimed.

"Ah," Niou's face split into a wider grin, "but YOU lost the bet, and YOU have to pay the price."

She sighed in defeat. Nakikora swiped the bag and stormed off to the changing room.

"What exactly is she going to be wearing?" Yamamoto raised a brow.

"You'll see," Niou smirked, trying to contain his joy.

[]

"Game and match, Yanagi, 6 games to 3."

"Good job," Yanagi shook his hand, "you are a very good player."

Yagyuu nodded,"your service game is a very hard one to crack.

"NO WAY MASAHARU!"

Everyone stopped playing at the sound of the yell.

"Did you hear it too Jackal?" Marui turned to his parter.

Jackal nodded, confirming his partner's suspicion.

"Yagyuu-senpai, who do you have a camera?" Kirihara asked curiously.

Yanagi held down a smile.

"So Mayumi gets to see," Yagyuu stated plainly.

Kirihara sniggered, "this is SO going down as blackmail."

"I'LL GO OUT THERE WHEN THE WORLD FREEZES OVER!"

"Nakikora," Niou said silkily, talking to a corner, "if you don't come out, I'm going to carry you out."

It seemed to ge the best way to make her do something because Nakikora walked out in a blaknet.

"Bucho," Niou sang sweetly, "can we have a tennis court?"

Yukimura held his smile down to aprpriateness.

"That's fine with me."

Niou gave him a grin and dragged Nakikora to an empty court.

"Ah, Nori-san nice to see you," Yukimura greeted.

Nori and the other regulars walked to the courts. Nori nodded and noted the gleeful expressions on the RIkkaidai regulars' faces.

"Does everyone know?" Nori raised a brow.

Yukimura shook his head, "if Sanada did, he would have had a kineption fit."

"You had to schedule it during practice matches didn't you?" Nakikora grumbled, clutching her blanket religiously.

Niou's vicious grin was still in tact.

"Let's start the game if you want to get home so badly."

He hit the ball into her court which she ran after, blanket still tight in the other hand. A slow rally was commencing.

Niou narrowed his eyes, "take the blanket off."

He hit the ball.

"No," she returned it.

"I'm going to make you take it off."

He slammed the ball into the ground where it came whizzing at Nakikora and tangled the gray blanket in the fencing. Everyone held their breath. Marui finally broke the silence.

"He's playing... A maid?"

YES. Nakikora was wearing a french maid's outfit. Covered in excess frill and the little frock to match. It was much too low cut and (almost) everything was exposed.

She turned pink.

THe court burst with wooping catcalls and racious laughter, curtousy of the Rikkai girls. Marui and Kirihara were laughing their butts off, Jackal went pale at the indecency of it all, Yagyuu's face stayed impassive, Yukimura smiled, and darn it all, Yanagi turned red.

Yanagi quickly excused himself to the lockeroom.

"Masaharu," Nakikora's voice went cold, "you're going down."

Niou grinned and bounced the ball on the court. He shot the serve and she ran after it with a cross. The rally went on until Niou shot a lob. Nakikora almost jumped for it, but hesitated.

"30-0!"

"Looks like the win will be mine," he flipped the racket.

He kept shooting lobs, but Nakikora wouldn't dare jump.

"Game, Niou, 2 games all."

Nakikora gritted her teeth. She HAD to win the match. Niou served the ball and another rally began. A lob was shot again but this time there was no hesitation.

"0-15!"

"Hey!" Makio put her hands on her hips, "she's wearing shorts!"

"I'm not a complete idiot," Nakikora snorted.

"Then why did she hesitate on the lobs?" Kirihara frowned.

"It's still very akward for the skirt of a dress to fly up," Nori commented.

"Or senpai is just very dramatic," a first year muttered.

The game continued and Nakikora slowly caught up.

"3 games all!"

Niou narrowed his eyes, then produced a smirk.

"I now have 100% chance of winning," he declared.

"What-"

"'What in the world are you talking about' is what you were going to say," Niou said in a deeper tone.

"He's copying Yanagi?" Marui scratched his head, "what's he playing at?"

Jackal shrugged, "it's Niou being unpredictable."

Only Yagyuu and Nori deemed the trick excellent.

"4 games to 3!"

"This-"

"'This is just plain annoying' is what you would say," 'Renji's' voice said.

They walked to opposite sides of the courts.

"You know," Niou said in Yanagi's voice, "that dress makes you 56% more prettier."

Nakikora shivered and glared at Niou, madly blushing.

"Cut it out, NIOU," she served the ball.

Niou just smirked and returned it.

"56% it's a cross."

POK!

"67% it's straight."

POK!

"89% it's a volley."

POK!

"99% you love him."

"CUT IT OUT!" she smashed the ball down on the court.

"15-0"

She would win. Revenge depened on it.

[]

Yanagi walked into the club room and straight to the sink. He splashed water on his face and took a deep breath.

_I did not need to see that._

His blush came back with full force. Yanagi splashed more water on his face. He tried to force the picture out of his head, but it just made the image more clear.

"Are you okay Renji?"

Yanagi glanced in the mirror to see Sanada standing in the shadows.

"Not really, but that doesn't matter does it? Do you know what's going on outside?"

Sanada nodded begrudingly.

Renji did a mental blink, "and you're letting it happen?"

"There's not much I can do to stop it, since Yukimura and Nori don't mind," he muttered.

Yanagi had to hold down a smile, knowing Sanada was still on a metiphorical leash to the captian.

"Anyways, what was your problem that you had to miss out on the 'fun'?" Sanada asked, putting emphasis on the word fun.

"Ah, I didn't feel well so I excused myself before I became sick on the courts," Yanagi explained.

Sanada raised his eyebrows, "and I'm supposed to believe it?"

"Yes," Yanagi said bluntly.

Sanada snorted, "since when did I ever take crap from you?"

"Since when did you ever know I was giving you crap?"

Sanada crossed his arms and gave him a look, "the real reason?"

Yanagi sighed.

"I just couldn't watch it," he shrugged.

Sanada stared at him for a moment. How could Yanagi be acting like a little schoolgirl? Yanagi had personally confinscated some very racy magazines from some first years without so much as flinching at the pictures (Yangai wondered why people thought he was stuck up or gay) but was madly blushing at Nakikora's clevage?

Then it clicked for Sanada.

"You like her," Sanada stated, as if he was quoting the laws of gravity.

"What?"

"You like her," Sanada said.

He would have been singing and dancing this statement around the room if he hadn't been such a stoic person. So he settled for a small smirk.

"I... I do not," Yanagi rebuffed.

"You can't look at her like that because you care about her."

"You have no proof. And wipe that smirk off your face, it's unbecoming."

The smirk remained plastered, "Suzuki-san in a mini skirt."

Yanagi turned instantly pink. Sanada folded his arms.

"That holds no evidence," Yanagi stuttered.

"But the fact that you acknowledged your blushing does."

Yanagi sighed in defeat, "what should I do then?"

Sanada's thoughts were always firmly on the ground.

"Tell her how you feel," he said simply.

Maybe too firmly on the ground.

"But it isn't that simple," Yanagi pointed out.

"Just tell her how you feel," Sanada repeated, "the most she can do is reject you."

"You sound like you speak from experience."

Sanada tugged at his cap, "not really."

"Cap tugging: trying to hide something from someone," Yanagi recited from his file on Sanada, "let's try this again. Do you like someone?"

Sanada tugged on his cap again on reflex. Yanagi nodded with approval.

"But you're changing topic," Sanada continued.

"I'M changing topic?"

"Just TELL her," Sanada sighed exasperatedly, his patience wearing away.

"Fine, fine," Yanagi turned to leave.

Yanagi started out the door.

"Oh and Sanada?"

Sanada nodded for him to go on.

"And tell Nori I said hi," Yanagi smiled as he went, leaving Sanada in surprise.

[]

Niou fell on the courts panting. Nakikora wasn't doing so hot either, but she managed to pull six games to win.

"Senpai got beat by a maid," Kirihara sniggered.

Nakikora glared at him, "you're next."

Kirihara whimpered and ran and hid behind Marui.

"Very macho," Marui snorted, "a girl in a maid's uniform. Scary."

"Ah," Yagyuu adjusted his glasses, "here's where you're wrong. She'd be very scary if she found out Niou had cheated, considering she is very effective with a racket."

"Wait a minute," Nakikora took a few steps to the net, "you CHEATED?"

Nakikora's fists started shaking and she started seeing red.

Niou gave a nervous grin and sprinted for the lockeroom.

"SANCTUARY!" he yelled as he ran past Yanagi into the lockeroom.

Nakikora screeched to a halt at the door, racket in hand.

"Hey Renji," Nakikora gritted her teeth, "is anyone else in there?"

"Just Sanada. Would you like for me to get Genichirou out of there?"

"No," Nakikora's eyes gleamed, "he's going to need someone to protect him."

She pushed the door open and crept inside. Yanagi counted to 30 then heard a shriek. The team gathered around as loud crashes and yelling was heard from inside the lockeroom. The door was jerked open. Sanada came out with Nakikora firmly over his shoulder and her racket in his hand. He was followed by Niou who was sporting cuts and a yellowing bruise on his cheek.

"Will you put me down?" Nakikora whimpered.

"No," Sanada said cooly, "you'll go after Niou again."

Niou was about to open his mouth but thought better of it. After all, all Sanada had to was set her down and she could continue her reign of terror.

"I REALLY don't like being picked up," Nakikora wrung her hands.

"What is her problem?" Marui whispered to Hana.

"Being picked up is like a phobia of hers," Hana shrugged.

"Please put me down," she squeaked.

Sanada raised his eyebrows, "I didn't plan on dropping you."

"Will you just put me down?" her voice jumped up an octave.

"After you promise not to kill Niou."

Nakikora's expression went grim, "I'm not making promises I can't keep."

Sanada hitched her up higher on his shoulder. She hid her face in her hands.

"Is making sure Niou's life is safe a good thing?" Marui asked.

"I like to think of it as a second chance," Yukimura said thoughtfully, "be good or be eaten."

Marui nodded. It made sense cominng from Yukimura.

"Okay, okay," Nakikora couldn't take it anymore, "I won't hurt him."

Sanada set her down and she wobbled around a bit. Once she regained her footing, Sanada handed her the racket. She walked up to Niou and stared him down. He didn't move a muscle.

"I'm going to change," she walked off to the other side of the building. Niou let go of his breath and slumped down on a nearby bench.

"Did you get that on tape?" Marui muttered to Yagyuu.

He nodded. Jackpot.

Suzume and Hana grinned at each other. Nakikora was NOT living this down for at least another 3 weeks.

"That turned out pretty well," Yukimura smiled.

Nori glanced at him incredulously, "pretty well? I thought Niou's face was going to be ripped off."

"So did I," muttered Niou.

Jackal looked away, Marui coughed and Kirihara just sat there blankly.

Yanagi but shook his head and walked away.

"Yagyuu," Niou started slowly, "why did you let it slip that we cheated?"

"WE cheated?" Yagyuu looked at him, "I never breathed a lie."

Niou grumbled and went in the lockeroom to change.

"Senpai," Kirihara's eyes brightened, "did you heard about the new issue in the book store?"

"Yeah," Marui nodded eagerly, "but I haven't had the chance to go."

"How about now?" Kirihara grinned at his senpai.

They grinned.

"Coming Suzume?" called Marui.

"HECK YES!" she ran to them.

They began sprinting down the way to where the bookstore was.

Hana and Jackal looked at each other and sighed.

"Damage control?" she offered.

"Why not?"

They began trotting in the directions the group and sprinted away to. Nori sighed at the rowdy antics.

"Genichirou, will you wait for me to change?" Yukimura called, "I think Mayumi deserves a visit."

Sanada nodded solemly. Nori gave a small chuckle.

"I guess I'll wait for you guys."

[]

Mayumi laid on her bed reading her history book. If she didn't stay caught up in all her classes she was going to fall behind.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said, not looking.

It was probably the tennis girls here to visit her.

The door opened and shut.

"Hey."

Mayumi looked up. Arisu was standing in front of her. What was she doing here? Mayumi said nothing.

"I-I was just wondering how you were doing?" she scratched the back of her head.

Hara was still wearing her school uniform and held a slightly worried look on her face. Worried? Not Hara. Probably a trick of the light.

"Well, I came to drop this off," she placed an envelope on the bedside table.

She walked to the door and opened it. Just before she left, she turned back to Mayumi, her crystalline eyes filled with pain.

"I'm... sorry," she tried with sincerity.

With that, she left the room leaving Mayumi with an envelope and confused thoughts. Mayumi stared at the envelope until her finger found its smooth surface and began to peel back its top pulled out a piece of folded paper from inside and began reading it.

It was the hospital bill... paid in full.

[]

Nakikora yanked off the gaudy garmet and scowled. She couldn't believe she had fallen for such a cheap trick. Nakikora pulled out a towel so she could go into the showers and wash the layers of sweat that had been acumulating. How liberating it was after wearing something to scanty.

_Probably has more fabric than the dress_ Nakikora thought bitterly.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Nakikora! Are you alright?"

Kiko smile. It almost seemed like Yanagi cared.

"What does your data tell you?" she called to him.

He was silent for a moment.

"26% you are physically or emotionally hurt."

She bit back a laugh.

"I'm fine," she told him, "very annoyed, but fine."

Yanagi relaxed on the other side of the door.

"I'm going to be awhile-"

"I can wait," Yanagi cut her off.

Nakikora sighed and turned on one of the showers. She got in and out rather quickly and began drying herself off with the towel.

_That's funny_ Nakikora thought, _the floor seems extra slippery today._

No sooner had she thought it, both of her feet went the wrong way and she landed on the floor with a sickening SNAP!

"Ow..." she winced.

The floor was made of concrete and not been kind to her ankle when she fell. Nakikora tried to push herself up... with little success.

"Nakikora... are you okay?"

"I'm... fine," she swallowed.

"You don't sound fine," Yanagi said, unassured.

She tried getting up again, "really I'm going to be fi-"

She let out a yelp of pain and collapsed back on the ground.

"I'm going to get help," he said ugently.

"No!" she said instantly, "I will be fine. I don't need them helping me like I'm some invalid."

Yanagi frowned, "but if you're hurt..."

Nakikora reached her towel and crawled to the bench and hoisted herself up.

"I'm fine," she started getting dressed quickly.

Yanagi listened to the door for any sounds of destress but none came forth. Every time there was a slight draw of breath from pain Yanagi wanted to rush in and take care of her.

Nakikora was finally dressed. She started hobbling to the door with her bag. She opened the door and hobbled out. She smiled at Yanagi and stood up straight.

Then she wobbled and fell. Yangai caught her. He positioned her so she could gain support from his shoulder.

"Do I need to carry you?" he asked dryly.

"No, no," she blushed, "please don't carry me."

They started heading back to the other changing room..

"It it you just don't like being picked up by certain people or you don't like being picked up at all?"

"It depends," she told him.

Yanagi felt sad. _She doesn't trust me?_

They got around the building and found Yukimura, Sanada, Yagyuu, Nori and Makio about to leave.

"Hello, hello," Makio smirked, "what's this?"

"Her ankle," Yanagi gestured and made no further comment.

He wasn't about to tell them he almost burst through the girls' lockeroom, fall or no fall.

"Where are you guys going?" Nakikora asked.

"To visit Mayumi."

"I would hate for her to miss out on the video," Yagyuu held up the camera.

Nakikora made a mental note to put Yagyuu on her hit list. Right after Masaharu of course.

"Want to come?" Yukimura offered.

"Sure," she nodded eagerly.

"Nakikora, do you think you can walk now?" Renji asked cautiously.

She paused for a moment, "I think so."

Nakikora let go and limped around. She was fine until she set her bag on her shoulders. The extra set her off balance and she grabbed for the nearest thing to support herself. That just happened to be Yanagi's waist.

"Why don't I take your bag?" he tried.

She nodded, looking away. She didn't want him to see her blushing.

He slung the bag over his shoulder and the group began walking to the hospital. Nakikora walked next to Yanagi. She didn't feel like being teased by her teamates, although, Makio shot her a thumbs up. Nakikora just shot a glare her way.

[]

Mayumi stared at the envelope for a long time. Why had Hara paid for the hospital bill? Did she feel guilty for what she did? Was she asking for forgiveness?

Mayumi thought about her feelings towards Arisu. Before, Mayumi had always feared her, not really hate, just fear. But after... She hadn't really felt anything towards Hara. She had done her worst and it didn't scare her anymore.

Mayumi wasn't bitter either, not that she was a grudge holder in the first place, but you would expect bitterness after things like that. She felt... nothing. Maybe it was time she forgave Hara.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she put the envelope in a drawer.

The tennis group came in as she was shutting the drawer.

"Hey May-chan," Nakikora grinned, "how are you doing?"

Mayumi produced a smile, "much better. I get out next week according to the doctors."

"That's great," Yukimura smiled broadly, "maybe after you get out you can whip your partner back into shape."

"Hey!"

Mayumi giggled, "I doubt it."

"I did pretty well today," Nakikora muttered.

"At being outsmarted," Nori coughed.

"Oh?"

Nakikora glared at the captain.

"I have it videotaped," Yagyuu pulled out his camera.

Nakikora sighed. Yagyuu was itching to be bumped to the top of the list.

Mayumi took the camera and pressed play. She watched Nakikora enter the screen with a blanket. She giggled when the blanket was pushed into the fence, revealing the dress. She watched in awe as Niou began impersonating Yanagi.

_"56% it's a cross."_

_POK!_

_"67% it's straight."_

_POK!_

_"89% it's a volley."_

_POK!_

_"99% you love him."_

_"CUT IT OUT!"_

Mayumi stopped the tape and smothered her giggles.

"It's seems to me that he won," she laughed.

"I beat him but he still won she says," Nakikora muttered.

"His predictions were fairly accurate," Yanagi said thoughtfully.

"Even the last one," Nori coughed.

"Do you have something stuck in your throat?" Nakikora interrupted her.

"Sorry," Nori cleared her throat, "my bad."

Nakikora stepped on her foot. Hard.

"I could make you run oh so many laps," Nori said cooly.

"But I could do alot more damage," Nakikora said darkly, "Tarundoru."

Sanada blinked at the use of his catchphrase.

They two girls had a staredown. All the guys backed away. Execpt for Yukimura, it had no effect on him. And Yagyuu and Sanada, they were too stoic to move. And Yanagi... okay, okay so none of them backed up.

"Uhhh... you guy's?" Mayumi said weakly.

Yukimura stepped inbetween them. They blinked and moved to different sides of the room.

"Can I keep the camera to watch the rest later?" Mayumi asked.

Yagyuu nodded, "I'll come by and get it later."

Sanada checked his watch, "I'm afraid I have to go."

Yanagi checked his own watch.

"I concur, shouldn't we be going?"

Yukimura nodded in comfirmation, "do you want to come with us Nori?"

She shook her head, "my house is on the way to Nakikora's."

"We'll see you later," Yukimura waved.

The guys left the room. Nori smiled at Mayumi.

"Get some rest," she told her.

Mayumi nodded, then hesitated. She remembered the envelope.

"Uh, you guys..." she started, "I was wondering what happened to Hara after the accident."

Nakikora's expression went grim, "she has stayed away from the tennis team like the plague, not that I'm complaining."

"Well," Mayumi opened the drawer and showed them the hospital bill, "I think she feels sorry."

Nori read the bill and gazed off in thought.

"I think I'm going to forgive her."

Nakikora's gaze hardened, "how can you forgive her after what she did to you?"

"It was an accident," Mayumi shrugged.

"Meant to hurt you ON PURPOSE!" Nakikora exclaimed.

Mayumi sat there helplessly. Nori gave her back the bill.

"Thank you for telling us Mayumi. Nakikora, lets go."

"But-"

"Do I have to make another hidden comment about you liking Yanagi?"

"How did you even find out about that?"

"I should be asking how you found out about Sanada."

"So you do admit to liking him."

"Puri."

"After that match, I'd have thought you were sick of imitations."

"... shut up."

Mayumi sighed at her captian and friend.

"Just be nice to each other," Mayumi said exasperated.

They blinked.

"Alright," Nori chuckled, "we promise."

"See you later Mayumi-chan," Kiko waved.

Mayumi smiled and waved back. She had some crazy friends.

[]

Niou yawned.

He streched his arms and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

Niou was surprised he had gotten such a peaceful sleep. Usually Nakikora would have woken up before he felt this good.

_Oh crap_.

Niou leaped out of bed and check his clock.

7:51.

Crap. School was starting in 9 minutes.

He quickly threw on his uniform and ran out his bedroom door.

SPLASH!

Niou was greeted with a bucket of icy water on his head.

"Pffft!" he spat the water out of his mouth and glared at the bucket.

There was a note on the bucket. He pulled it off.

Now you've had your shower. Now get to school ;)

Ooooooh. He was going to kill her. He glanced at the time again.

7:55.

He was just going to have to air dry on the sprint to school.

[]

Nakikora pulled out her literature book, smiling.

"Something happen today?" Yukimura smiled raising his eyebrows.

"How do you figure that?"

"Your smile is just unusually big and bright today," he commented.

She chuckled.

"You could say that."

[]

Niou ran into the classroom still dripping. He had been 5 minutes late but managed to sneak into class without getting caught. He ignored all the wierd looked he recieved from his classmates.

After class ended Niou pushed his books into his bag. Someone rapped their knuckles on his desk.

He looked up to see Sanada and Yanagi towering over him.

"Yes?" Niou said casually.

"You missed morning practice," Sanada stated.

"Really now?" he rested his head on his hands.

"Yes," Renji remained faceless, "and from the looks of it you went swimming instead."

Niou glanced at the puddle forming around his desk. He shrugged.

Sanada slammed his fists on his desk.

"If I were the one to hand out your punishment, you'd be running laps till I got tired," Sanada said in a deadly tone.

"Then I'll count myself lucky," Niou stared at him.

The two demons' mouths quirked at the thought.

"You do know that instead of Sanada, it Yukimura thats going to give you the reprimand?" Yanagi raised his eyesbrows.

Niou snorted, "obviously."

"Yukimura is going to have his evil way with you."

Niou blinked," you make it sound like he's going to rape me."

The two exchanged glances.

"That's a very apt way of putting it," Yanagi opened his eyes slightly.

The demons walked away leaving Niou to collect his thoughts. He wait until the two left to let out a shudder.

He was going to die.

[]

"Now, wasn't that interesting?" Yanagi asked Sanada.

He stared at space in front of him.

"I would have preferred to make him run laps."

Yanagi remained faceless, "but it did instill the fear of God in him."

Sanada had to agree to that.

"He deserved it considering he was saved yesterday. I don't give out extra grace for nothing."

[]

Niou scanned the crowd for Nakikora. He never resorted to open violence, but for her, he'd make an exception. After all, she made the same exception for him.

He clenched his fists when he spotted his prey. Niou made a beeline to her until he saw who she was talking to.

Nakikora was holding a page of paper in front of Yukimura. Fight or flight instincts kicked in and Niou wasn't stupid enough to fight the forces called Yukimura. He would deal with Nakikora later. But she most certainly not get away with it.

* * *

End of chapter.

Yay! 9 chapters under the belt. It makes a person feel good.

ATTENTION: Because we have nine chapers done, I feel its time to have someone get togther in the next chapter and it's up to YOU to decide. You have until Saturday May 14 to tell me what pairing should get togther (one that has been previously mentioned). PM or review who you want toghter.

Thank you for your time and please review :)


	10. Not that surprised' party

Okay so maybe I got a little lazy because school is out... Sorry! Sorry! (,)

Anywho, so you guys voted on which couple got togther and the winner is...

read on :) enjoy

* * *

**Chapter 10: 'Not that surprised' party**

"Hey," Niou sat down at the table.

Nakikora eyed him wearily. The past week Niou had be making her life a living hell ever since the bucket incedent, which ranged from playing prank after prank on her to just ingnoring her altoghter.

"I think I'm good now," Niou raised a hand. "I'm done with pranking."

It had turned out that Yukimura hadn't been as mad as he thought. Niou had only had to do 100 laps. Sanada and Yanagi had just been winding him up. He'd yet to pay them back.

Nakikora relaxed and scooted her chair a little closer.

"Truce?"

"Truce."

"You don't know how hard it is to wake up on your own," Niou shook his head.

Nakikora stuck her tounge out, "that's why I have to take care of you, you big baby."

Niou gave her a little shove. She smirked at him.

"Do you know what today is?" she asked him.

"Wednesday."

"Yeah," Nakikora said slowly, "but do you know what DAY it is?"

Niou shrugged, "heck if I know."

Nakikora looked off at the distance with a warm smile on her face.

"Mayumi is coming back today."

[]

Mayumi smiled as she walked through the gates of Rikkai dai Fuzoku. She inhaled the smell of fresh cut grass that had been done by the school's gardeners. She had really missed this place.

"Hello Mayumi-san."

She giggled, "I thought we would have gotten past all these formalites, Yagyuu."

He raised a brow, "one can never be too polite."

"Yes they can," she argued. "Too polite is when you can feel their words dripping wiht sweetness. Not the all-natural sweetness, but the high calorie synthetic kind."

"Well, I'm sorry if my words will make people fat, it's just who I am."

Mayumi giggled again. She was very happy to be back at school.

Yagyuu permitted himself a smile. Mayumi felt her stomach turn.

_I need to stop eating so much breakfast_, she rubbed her stomach. _I'm going to make myself sick._

Suzume ran down the halls. She was searching for someone.

"Nori! Nori!"

Nori raised her eyebrows at the skittering girl.

"What is it Suzume?"

"Can we throw a party?" she seemed to be bouncing up and down.

"What for?" Nori stared at her.

No one's birthday was for at least another month.

"A welcome back party!" Suzume clapped her hands, "for Mayumi of course!"

Nori thought about it. Although they had bought her select presents and had visited her every day, getting of of the hospital after near fatal brain damage should be something to celebrate.

But knowing Suzume and how quickly things could get out of hand, some else should be in charge of the details.

"Alright," Nori gave a nod, "she can have a party."

Suzume pounded the air with her fists. There was so much that needed to be done. Decorations, supplies, food, guest list-

"But Nakikora is in charge."

[]

"I'm WHAT?"

Niou grinned at the news that had been delivered to Nakikora.

"Nori said," Suzume recounted, "that we can throw a party for Mayumi, but since Nakikora is her best friend, she is in charge of the details."

Nakikora sighed and rubbed her temples.

"And why, pray tell, is someone else not throwing the party?"

"Nori is too busy and it had to be done by someone in the tennis club. And she trusts you to do it right."

Nakikora rolled her eyes. Stupid party.

"Please?" Suzume pouted, "for May-chan?"

Kiko sighed again.

"Alright. I'll do it."

"Yessss!" Suzume air pound number two.

"I have a bunch of ideas for the par-"

"Hey Suzume, have you read volume two in your manga?" Nakikora interrupted her.

"No... but for decorations I ca-"

"It's really interesting," Nakikora interrupted again, "in chapter 12, Kyoga tells Rin that-"

"LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" she stuck her fingers in her ears, "LALALALALA!"

Suzume walked away hurriedly before her precious manga was spoiled. Niou looked at Nakikora questioningly.

"Quickest way to get rid of her," Nakikora shrugged her shoulders, "thank goodness Marui doesn't mind ruining a story for me."

Niou chuckled, "So, about this party..."

"You're not invited," Nakikora said instantly.

"And that right there folks is the best way to start out a new truce," Niou held two thumbs up. "Way to go."

"It's a tennis club affair ONLY," she injected, "and that means not you."

"But I'm in the guys tennis club you know," Niou pointed out.

"You know I meant girls club," Nakikora shot him a dirty look.

"But Suzume didn't specify," he smirked.

Nakikora frowned. He was right.

"Nori probably wants it that way."

"And you are going to conform to what Nori wants," Niou put his hands on his hips.

"Yes."

"Come on," Niou pushed out his lip, "I know you want to invite me."

Nakikora rolled her eyes, "not really. And quit standing like that. You look extremely gay."

"No I don't."

"Gay."

"Do not."

"Super gay."

"I do not!"

"FLAMINGLY HOMO."

"You're no fun," Niou stood up straight.

"Since when has she ever been fun?" a voice giggled.

"Mayumi-chan!" Nakikora exclaimed.

Kiko jumped up from the table and hugged Mayumi.

"Walking your lover to school?" Niou grinned as Yagyuu sat down.

"No," Yagyuu said curtly, "I saw her at the gates and escorted her in."

"OH," Niou nodded knowingly, "escorted her."

Mayumi said something to Nakikora who smiled and nodded.

"See you guys in class," Mayumi waved as Nakikora gathered her books, "I need to talk to one of the teachers."

They walked away.

Niou stared at Yagyuu for a long time.

"What?" Yagyuu fixed his glasses.

"When are you going to ask her OUT? Just do it already."

"Niou-kun we have been a hundred times. There is no sense in beating a dead horse."

"Well I just revived that horse with CPR," Niou stated, "and it's not just me and Nakikora who think it."

"I've yet to see otherwise," Yagyuu said skeptically.

"Hey Yanagi!" Niou called him over as he walked by.

Yanagi raised his eyebrows.

"Just come over here!" Niou yelled.

"Hello Niou, Yagyuu," Yanagi nodded, "can I help you two?"

"Have you seen a certain someone Yagyuu has been interested in today?" Niou wiggled his eyebrows.

"Yes," Yanagi said slowly, "she came back to school today from the hospital."

Niou turned to Yagyuu with a smug look on his face.

"Told you."

"Well," Yagyuu adjusted his glasses, " I could say the same for you and Nakikora."

Somehow, this fact did not settle with Yanagi's stomach.

Niou snorted, "are you kidding me? Kiko has interests elsewhere."

"What did you say?" Yanagi nearly blinked.

Niou turned back to Yanagi.

"Oh, are you still here? Would you look at the time? Class is about to start."

Niou gathered his books and walked off to class.

"Why does he always do that?" Yanagi sighed.

Yagyuu glanced at the Datamaster.

"Who knows?"

[]

Mayumi walked into her first period classroom and was greeted with a chorus of 'welcome back's and 'glad your better's. She smiled politely at each one and took her seat.

"Welcome back after being in the hospital so long," Sanada told her.

Yanagi nodded in agreement.

"Thanks you guys," she smiled.

Niou slid into his seat just before the teacher began taking roll.

"I thought you headed to class eariler than the rest of us," Yanagi raised an eyebrow.

"Was I?" he smiled mischiviously, "I guess I got sidetracked."

_Probably another prank was pulled in school today_, Yanagi reasoned. The teacher started the class.

"Mayumi-chan," Niou whispered in her ear.

"Hmmm?"

"So did Yagyuu pluck up some courage?"

"Say what?" she glanced back at him.

"You know," he motioned, "ask you out?"

She sighed.

"It doesn't work that way Niou."

"Really? Then tell me how it works."

She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again.

"Well?"

She blushed. She wasn't about to tell the trickster where her heart lay.

"It just doesn't."

She turned her attention back to the lesson.

Niou smirked. Only more reassurance to what he already knew.

[]

"Hey Nakikora-san," Yukimura called to her.

She looked up from her book and raised her eyebrows in response.

"Nori told me you were organizing Mayumi a party."

Darn those captians and their want to participate in activities togther.

"And you want to know if the guys are invited?" Nakikora asked wearily.

"Actually I was going to offer my help," he smiled, "I know planning these events can be stressful without help."

Nakikora sighed with relief, "I would love your help. I would like to have it done by this afternoon to surprise Mayumi. Do you think that is possible?"

"I think so," Yukimura nodded thoughtfully, "but we're going to have to spend every spare moment planning up until then."

"Great," Nakikora clapped her hands togther, "here, I already have some ideas..."

[]

Yanagi walked to his study period. He had never cared for the excess period since it was early in the morning and he never had homework at that point in time. But he liked the company that resided in the class. Yukimura, Sanada, and Nakikora were always good to strike up a conversation with.

Yanagi sat down at his normal seat in the library next to Sanada. The latter had some work on the table and was working on it with a deep concentration.

Yanagi wait for the other two to take their seats, but no one came.

Where were they?

He looked around the room. He spotted Nakikora and Yukimura sitting at a table in the corner.

Yanagi raised his eyebrows. This was a pecular seemed to be talking avidly. Yukimura said something and Nakikora nodded eagerly.

Yanagi frowned. He watched them for another 10 minutes.

"Hn," Sanada finished his homework, "whats up?"

"Yukimura and Nakikora are acting wierd," Yanagi stated.

"How's that?"

"They have isolated themselves in that corner."

Sanada resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Maybe they are working on a project," Sanada suggested.

"No supplies."

"Maybe they are talking about some school work."

"We haven't done anything noteworthy the past week," Yanagi shook his head

"Maybe they're planning something for the tennis teams."

"Then Yukimura would be talking to Nori, not Nakikora."

"Maybe they just wanted to sit and catch up with each other," Sanada sighed and rested his head on his arm.

"Yukimura didn't know Nakikora very well until this year," Yanagi dissmissed it.

"I'm trying to offer you logical explanations but you keep ignoring me," Sanada said, exasperated, "can you tell me what is wrong with that statement?"

"You just haven't given me a logical enough explanation," Yanagi argued.

"I'm inclined to think that you would belive they are planning to elope over school work the way you are going on and on," Sanada narrowed his eyes.

"Are you incinuating that I'm jealous?" Yanagi gave Sanada a cold glare

"They don't call you the Datamaster for show," Sanada rubbed the bridge of his nose, "nothing escapes you."

"I'm not jealous," Yanagi stared him down, "and your sarcasm is not appreciated."

"Alright, you're not jealous," Sanada shrugged, "your just obsessed with Yukimura when he talks to someone of the female gender just like every other obsessed fangirl in this school."

Yanagi sniffed and pulled a book out of his bag to occupy himself. He was done playing games, with Sanada of all people.

[]

After class, Yanagi caught up with Nakikora.

"Nakikora-chan, I was looking at our next science test. Do you want to compare notes at lunch?"

_76% yes. But with the new variable..._

"Sorry," Nakikora shook her head, "I'm eating lunch with Yukimura."

Bust.

"Ah," Yanagi deflated slightly, "that's fine."

She gave him a smile and went off to english.

He sighed. So much for that idea.

Sanada walked up to the lunch table where Nori and Yagyuu were located. Yagyuu raised his eyebrows.

"You seem to be missing a few people."

Sanada snorted, "Yanagi will probably be here in a little bit."

Nori hid a smile, "did he do something?"

"Something like that," Sanada muttered under his breath.

Yagyuu turned his attention back to his book and lunch.

"So," Nori began, "have you seen Mayumi in class?"

Sanada nodded, "she seems happy to be back."

Nori sighed contentedly, "I'm glad she had a speedy recovery."

Sanada was about to move a seat closer to continue the conversation until Yanagi placed himself right between the two.

"Any reason to pick that seat?" Sanada asked casually, sounding more like a growl.

"No reason," Yanagi replied.

Yagyuu looked up from his book and followed Yanagi's line of vision. Yukimura and Nakikora were at a table by themselves.

"I think he just wanted a clear view," Yagyuu returned to his book.

"I thought you weren't jealous," Sanada prodded him.

"I'm not," Yanagi said defensivly, "I'm collecting data."

Yagyuu snorted from behind his book.

"Do you even know what they're doing?" Sanada sighed with irritation.

"Them?" Nori glanced at Nakikora and Yukimura, "they're planning something for the girls' tennis club."

"Then why is Nakikora doing it and not you?" He opened his eyes slightly.

"I'm too busy to do it," she shook her head.

Yanagi frowned. He wasn't satisfied with that excuse. He was going to find out the real reason.

Yanagi got up and left the table. Sanada considered moving chairs again, but he knew the moment had passed.

Yanagi was being REALLY irrational over all this. And that was saying something.

Yanagi began approaching a closer spot to 'supervise' the table but was stopped by his kouhai.

"Yanagi-senpai," Kirihara ran to him, "I was wondering after I finished today's menu if-"

"Is this pertinent right now?" Yanagi interrupted him.

"Uh," Akaya blinked, "not really..."

"Then I will address it later," Yanagi told him.

"Okay..." Kirihara walked away.

Kirihara was surprised at his senpai's outburst. Yanagi was usually very calm.

Yanagi's gaze went back to the table and he walked to and empty table to said something to Nakikora and she nodded. She gave him a piece of paper.

_Her phone number?_ Yanagi thought to himself. _They wouldn't need numbers if they were planning a tennis event._

Yukimura gave a slight nod and took out his phone, putting the number in.

Yanagi frowned. Whatever was happening, it didn't look good.

[]

Yukimura and Nakikora walked down the hallway.

"Can you really have a cake ready in 2 hours?" Nakikora asked.

Yukimura nodded, "I know the baker really well, so I'll give him a call when school ends."

Nakikora beamed with satisfaction, "if there wasn't about a dozen fangirls glaring at me right now I'd hug you."

Yukimura put his arm around her, "I'd do it anyway."

All through the hallway, fangirls squealed in frustration.

"You know," Nakikora murmured to Yukimura, "you are about as sadist as Niou is."

"I wouldn't know about that," Yukimura smiled a quiet smile.

Yanagi walked out of the library with two books in tow. He nearly dropped both of them when he saw Yukimura and Nakikora walking togther.

_I only went to do something for five minutes and this is what happens?_ he sighed.

Yanagi couldn't believe it. Right after he met Nakikora, she was slipping out of his hands.

[]

Mayumi walked into 7th period math class. She inhaled the mint smell of the classroom. The newness of going to school hadn't worn off her yet.

She sat down behind Niou with a full on smile. The teacher was giving out assignments for the day.

"Geeze could you be any happier?" Marui grunted, "and in Math class of all places."

She patted Marui on the shoulder, "well, I could be singing some lame fairytale princess song about how fabulous and wonderful schoo is while birds twitter in the background and other forest creatures roam about while an invisible choir backs me up."

Marui paused for a moment.

"That would be worse."

Mayumi looked over to Nakikora's seat and saw Nakikora leaning over to Yukimura's seat and they were talking in hushed tones. Mayumi blinked. This was an odd setup.

"Hey," she called to them.

They immediately stopped talking and looked up at her.

"Hey May-chan," Nakikora smiled, "what's up?"

Mayumi was about to inquire about the two talking, but the teacher interrupted her and told the students to get working.

Mayumi pulled her books out and began reading down the day's problems. They looked simple enough.

Mayumi looked up to see Yukimura and Nakikora passing notes between each other. Didn't she pass notes with Niou in this class? She glanced at Niou, but he didn't seem to be fazed by it.

Mayumi shrugged. She couldn't help it if things had changed.

[]

Sanada walked to the courts to address the team.

"Begin normal warmups then proceed to the drills on your menus," he instructed them. "Dismissed."

The team started to jog around the courts. All except for Yanagi.

"Where's Yukimura?" Yanagi searched the courts for a sign of their captian.

"He won't be here," Sanada watched the team come around for their first lap.

"He won't be here?" Yanagi looked at Sanada.

"He won't be here," Sanada said with finality.

"Why?" Yanagi gave him a sharp look.

"That," Sanada tugged his cap over his eyes, "is something I don't know. But I didn't ask him either."

Sanada walked off to oversee the practice at a closer distance.

Yanagi resolved to finish his menu as quickly as he could. Niou's words from this morning rang in his head.

_"Kiko has interests elsewhere."_

By elsewhere did he mean Yukimura? Yanagi hoped it wasn't too late.

[]

As soon as practice started, Nori had assigned laps for everyone to do. Usually the regulars were in front with the first years in the back. But today Nakikora was lagging behind. SEVERELY.

"Nakikora!" Nori barked, "pick up your pace!"

"I don't want to," she muttered.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Everyone held their breath. When Hara was on the team, you would get the occasional back talker who ended up getting more laps than everyone esle. But nobody talked back to Nori. NOBODY.

"I said I don't want to!" Nakikora yelled back.

Nori sucked in a deep breath.

"Since you don't want to speed your pace, then why don't you just do 20 laps?" Nori said very evenly.

There was slight confusion. Nakikora let out a little laugh.

"AROUND THE CAMPUS."

Ah. That made more sense.

Nakikora stopped in her tracks, stunned.

A small smirk was creeping up on Nori's face.

"Go on," she drawled.

Nakikora muttered curses under her breath and began running for the gates.

Mayumi watched in alarm.

"Wasn't Nori too hard on her?" she whispered to Hana.

"Probably," Hana kept going, "but it's not our place to but in. Besides, you don't want to do 20 campus loops with her, do you?"

Mayumi shook her head fiercely.

Hana nodded, "let's just keep going then."

Mayumi glanced back to where Nakikora was running. She hoped she would be okay.

[]

Nakikora ran out the gates until she hit the parking lot. She smiled when she saw who was waiting on her.

"It took you long enough," Yukimura folded his arms.

"Sorry," she shrugged, "Nori wanted to make it look real."

"Ah, well, that's wonderful and all, but we only have 2 hours to get the club room ready," Yukimura mused, "we'd better get started."

[]

"Hey Yagyuu," Marui tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes?" Yagyuu turned to him.

"Has our datamaster ever gotten done with his menu that fast?" Marui blew a bubble.

"No Marui, I don't believe he has."

"I have never seen him move that fast in a practice," Niou grinned.

"Hmmmm," Marui popped his bubble, "he must be worked up over something."

"Senpai worked up?" Kirihara stopped running his drill, "is he okay?"

Marui shrugged.

"Maybe you should ask Sanada-san," Yagyuu suggested.

"FUKUBUCHO!" Kirihara began running towards Sanada.

Sanada turned his head to see Kirihara skid to a halt before him.

"What is it?" Sanada stared at the younger player.

"Is Yanagi-senpai sick?" Kirihara asked with urgency.

"No..." Sanada said slowly, "he's fine."

"But Senpai-tachi said he was worked up over something," Akaya protested.

Sanada held back the urge to roll his eyes.

"It's nothing."

"But-"

"Drop it," Sanada glared at him, "it's nothing."

Muted by the glare, Akaya slunk back over to his other senpai.

"Well?" Marui looked at him expectantly.

"He told me it was nothing," muttered Kirihara.

Niou and Marui looked at each other.

"Then it's obviously something VERY important," Marui declared.

"How's that?" Kirihara asked, confused.

"Sanada obviously didn't want you to know so he used the ancient excuse 'its-not-important-so-you-dont-need-to-know'," Niou explained.

"So instead of letting me help senpai..." Kirihara trailed off.

"He's trying to keep you in the dark," Marui shook his head.

"YOU'RE A HORRIBLE PERSON FUKUBUCHO!" Kirihara yelled at him.

The whole team stopped to stare at Sanada.

Niou and Marui did there best to keep their snickers down.

"Marui, Niou, Yagyuu," Sanada gritted his teeth, "30 laps."

"What do we get laps for? Marui complained, "brat here is the one who said it."

"You provoked him."

"And me?" Yagyuu raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't stop those two."

Yagyuu shrugged and the three set off to do their laps.

Kirihara snickered at the fact that his elders were doing laps and he had gotten off scott free.

"Kirihara! 40 laps!"

Nevermind.

[]

"Come on!" Nakikora said hurriedly, "we have to get this to the club room."

"I can only carry this so quickly before I trip," Yukimura chuckled.

"You can't trip," Nakikora dismissed the thought, "you're the child of Got. Besides, if we don't hurry we'll get caught."

_Caught doing what?_ Yanagi thought darkly.

Yes. Yanagi was spyi-ah observing Yukimura and Nakikora. Wasn't Nakikora supposed to be practicing? It was all too 'wierd' for him to ignore. At least, that's what he told himself.

"What are you doing, senpai?" a black haired first year girl asked him.

Yanagi nearly jumped in surprise. He took a good look at the girl. Her hair was tied in a ponytail with a pink ribbon and she was wearing a girl's tennis uniform. She looked vaugely familiar.

"Nothing," he told her.

The girl looked at the scene he was observing.

"Are you Yanagi-senpai?" the girl asked him.

He nodded silently. The girl looked back at Nakikora and Yukimura.

"I don't know what Yukimura-senpai and Nakikora-chan-senpai are doing, but I wouldn't worry about it," she said thoughtfully.

"But they're obviously doing something," Yanagi pointed out.

The girl smiled shyly, "but not what you think. Trust me senpai."

Yanagi wasn't convinced. Not that he had been the whole day. And where did this little girl get off telling him things?

"If it makes you feel any better," she whispered with a smile, " Nakikora-senpai really likes you. She talks about you sometimes when she helps me train."

"Really?"

"Really."

Yanagi felt like he was walking on air.

"But what if Yukimura steals her away?" the thought slipped from his mouth.

He came crashing back to Earth.

"Then the answer is obvious," she told him, "you have to confess to her."

He gave the small first year a smile.

"Thank you," he told her.

He started walking for Nakikora when it hit him. Now he remebered who she was.

"Oh, and tell Akaya I said hello in your next letter," Yanagi gave her a small wave.

The first year blushed. Yanagi continued on. All in a day's work.

[]

"Practice is over!" Nori announced.

Mayumi sighed and wiped the sweat off her brow. Tennis seemed harder than she remembered. But then, she was probably getting soft.

"Mayumi," Nori called, "I need to talk to you."

Mayumi ran over to Nori.

"Yes bucho?"

"I'm going to need to go over some paperwork with you before you leave, so meet me here after you get dressed," Yamamoto instructed.

Mayumi nodded and ran off to the lockerooms. Hopefully she could get done quickly and catch up with Nakikora.

[]

The final touches were being put on the club room as the girls began filing in. Nakikora had complete trust in her captian, she just hoped she could get done before Mayumi walked in. A young man poked his head through the door.

"May I have a word with you Nakikora?" Renji asked quietly.

Nakikora glanced at Yukimura. He motioned for her to go on.

"What is it Renji?" she asked wearily.

"I was hoping to discuss the matter privately," he told her.

They walked out of the club room and to a corner outside the school.

She let out an exasperated sigh, "I have to get back to Yukimura, I don't have time for-"

"I like you," he blurted.

Hold the phone.

"What?"

Okay. So maybe he should have planned something before just charging in.

He turned to his head to the sky.

"What did you say?" she looked up at his face.

"I like you. alot. Alot more than just a friend..." he scratched the back of his head embarrasedly.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Oh why now of all times did he have to start blushing? He never blushed. NEVER.

"Forget it," he stared down at his shoes, "it's 78% likely I just wasted your time."

"Hey, Renji."

He looked up at her.

Nakikora blushed as she smiled at him, "I like you more than a friend too."

Yanagi felt shock. She truely liked him? He reached down and leaned in. She reached up and their lips met.

It was electric.

After a moment, their lips parted. Yanagi really wished he would stop blushing.

"Oh! I have to get back to Yukimura!"

Yanagi frowned, "I just confessed to you and you're runnign back to Seiichi?"

She laughed. Yanagi was Yanagi all the way.

"Well, he helped me plan the party."

"Party?"

"For Mayumi," she explained, "because she got out of the hospital.

Yanagi felt extremely childish now, becoming jealous over such a simple thing. He owed Sanada an apology.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked him.

"It's very likely," he smiled.

"No percents?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Nope," Yanagi shook his head, "I don't want to be proven wrong."

"Very smart," Nakikora kissed his cheek.

She loved seeing him light up like a Christmas tree. Red was definitely his color.

"I'll see you later," she waved.

He waved back until she was around the corner.

Sanada was watching from afar, leaning on a tree. He stood up and started walking home.

"Finally."

[]

Mayumi sat on the courts waiting for Nori. Mayumi let out an exaperated sigh. She had been waiting for 10 minutes.

Nori walked onto the courts, "sorry I'm so late."

FINALLY! Mayumi wanted to scream. She sat silently.

Yamamoto rifled through her bag.

"I left the forms in the club room," she shut her bag, "you'll have to come with me and we'll fill them out there."

Mayumi resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Had her captian gotten careless over the time she had been gone? It hadn't seemed like it when she visited at the hospital.

Mayumi followed Nori around the building and they entered the club room. Nori flicked the lights on.

"SURPRISE!"

Mayumi was greeted with her fellow tennis members popping up and pulling her to a table. Someone slipped a paper hat on her head and she was sat into a seat.

"What is all this for?" she asked, in shock.

"For you silly!" Suzume smiled, "it's because you got out of the hospital!"

Mayumi felt her eyes well with tears, "I just got out of the hospital. It's not a big deal."

"It's a very big deal," Hana nodded, "you could have been stuck in that hospital as a vegtable forever."

"Oh, you guys!" Mayumi felt the tears fall, "you are the best friends I could ever have!"

All the regulars hugged her and one of the others yelled 'lets cut the cake!'

"Would you do the honors?" Nakikora handed her a knife.

She nodded and began slicing the cake. The food and drink was getting passed around when somebody opened and closed the door of the club room.

"Hey," Suzume turned, "you're just in ti-"

She stopped in her tracks.

"What is it Su-" Hana turned as well.

The plate of cake fell out of her hands.

"What's wrong?" Mayumi looked at the stunned pair.

Mayumi turned to see Arisu standing at the door with her head tilted down.

Nori walked away from the crowd and up to Hara.

"What did you come here for?" she asked bluntly.

Hara fell to the ground on her knees still staring at the floor.

"I-I wan-"

"Speak up," Nakikora said darkly, "so everybody can hear you."

Hara took a deep breath.

"I would like to rejoin the tennis club."

* * *

Dun, dun, dun! Cliffhanger!

Well I hoped you liked the chapter. I might not be as regular about updating the story as I was during the school year but I'll try.

Another thought, I started reading Ouran Host Club, and it's really good! I don't read many Manga (Prince of tennis is a given) but I think this is one of my favorite so far.

Thank you for being faithful :)


	11. Paying your dues

I'm ALIVE! It's really short so that you guys know I'm not quitting on the story! The summer just caught up with me

* * *

**Chapter 11: The price of pranks**

"I would like to join the club again," Hara bent to her knees.

All the girls stayed silent.

"Is that really what you want?" Nori asked soberly.

Hara didn't look up. She nodded her head.

Hana gave her a cold glare.

"She's going to have to do alot more than just beg to get my forgiveness," she stormed out of the room.

Suzume took one glance at Hara and turned her nose up as she took the same exit. Makio stood up and studied Arisu for a moment.

"Not happening," Makio stood up and walked out of the club room.

One by one, all the tennis girls expressed their negative comments and walked out of the room until the only ones left wer Makio, Nakikora, and Nori. Mayumi walked over and knelt down next to Hara.

"I don't mind if you come back," she whispered in her ear.

Hara didn't move a muscle.

"You see, I've kinda already forgiven you. Because I know you are real. That this isn't fake," Mayumi had a small smile on her face.

Hara's eyes widened. She was in shock. Mayumi got off her knees and walked out of the clubhouse. Nakikora followed her, but didn't say a word. She eye Hara, then turned to leave.

Nori walked over to Hara, and stood over her.

"As I see it, you can still rejoin the team if you wish," Nori offered her a hand up, "but you will start where you should have started years ago: picking up balls."

Arisu took the hand listened intently.

"Maybe you will work up to an alternate with hard work, but as the situation is, you will never join the regulars unless they agree to it."

Hara opened her mouth to argue in protest.

"I'm not going to have the tensions I had last season," Nori said firmly.

She shut her mouth and looked down again.

"Do you still want to join the club?" Nori eyed her.

Hara glanced up to meet her gaze.

"I do."

"Very well," Yamamoto made a sweeping motion, "you may go."

Hara nodded and hastened away. Nori listened to the fading footsteps as she surveyed the room. It was covered in streamers and balloons as well as other party favors. Nori sighed.

"Someone will have to clean this up."

[]

"That stupid captian," Nakikora stuffed an empty plastic cup in a trash bag.

"Dumb, manipulative, lazy," she ripped a strand of streamers off the ceiling.

Kiko continued cleaning the room while muttering curses under breath aimed toward her captian. Niou walked into the clubhouse in search of some extra grip tape, but stopped at the sight of the festive mess.

"Whoa, what happened? Did somebody OD on birthday party or something?" Niou looked around.

"Here, help me," she tossed a trash bag at him.

"Uh, I don't think so," he sidestepped the bag, "why are you cleaning up this mess?"

"Because," Nakikora crammed more trash in her bag with gritted teeth, "the party lasted for five minutes then everyone left. And because I 'made the mess' I have to clean it up."

"That sucks," Niou commented, "if I can't be any more of a burden, I'm going to go."

He began walking for the door.

"No," Nakikora begged, "please help me, I don't want to be stuck in this dump all morning."

Niou stopped and looked back at her, "why should I? What would I get out of helping you?"

"I'll give you the rest of the cake to do whatever you want with it."

"How much cake?" Niou looked at her.

"Enough to make Akaya go on a sugar high," Nakikora told him.

Niou raised an eyebrow. It wasn't THAT hard to get the little brat hyped on sugar.

"For three days straight."

"Deal," Niou grabbed up a bag and started stuffing streamers into it.

The two worked on the club room, till it was back to normal. It took them nearly an hour to do it all.

"Oh my geeze," Niou slumped to the clubhouse couch, "girls are so messy."

Nakikora sprawled down next to him.

"I am going to murder Nori if it's the last thing I do," she vowed, raising her hand in the air.

Niou contemplated this for a moment. Murder... How about social murder... He still owed Sanada one himself... This could work in his favor.

"How about we do one better?" Niou offered.

Nakikora sat up, with rapt attention, "I'm listening."

[]

Yanagi walked into first period and sat down next to Sanada. The fukubucho eyed him, then went back to reading his book.

"Do you want to say something?" Yanagi turned to him.

Sanada looked back up at him.

"Just don't let it get in the way of tennis," Sanada said simply.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Yanagi raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe you should ask your girlfriend," Sanada pulled his book closer to him.

"Is that what this is about?" Yanagi frowned, "because it's not funny or cute."

"But I know what you think is," Sanada almost snickered.

But that would be un-Sanada-like, so he kept his composure. Yanagi was half bent on making a snide remark about Sanada's own interests, but Mayumi and Niou walked in.

"You are immature," Yanagi settled for.

"Wait, what?" Niou stuck a finger in his ear, "Sanada... immature? I must be becoming hard of hearing."

"Sit down, Niou," Sanada looked up from his book, "class is about to start."

Niou eyed the vice captian but sat down anyway. He would get his revenge later.

"But your last comment is far from true," Sanada shot back to Yanagi.

Yanagi looked Sanada square in the eye, "considering the fuss you are making about it, you seem pretty immature from over here."

"Well I'm only making a fuss because you've never had one before," Sanada shrugged.

"If I rember correctly, YOU have never had one either," Yanagi folded his arms.

"That doesn't discount me from picking on you and worrying," Sanada went back to his book, "do you even know what kind of attention she'll need?"

"She seems very indepentdent, but I will spend time with her," Yanagi gave a nod, "I'll even be able to spend time at the upcoming district tournament."

"You're bringing your puppy to the tournament?" Mayumi asked him.

Both Yanagi and Sanada froze.

"What?"

"Well, the only thing I could get out of that conversation is that you got a new puppy and Sanada was worrying because you've never had a pet," Mayumi shrugged, "I could be wrong."

"No," Sanada tried REALLY HARD not to snicker, "that's what it is, Renji has a new puppy."

Yanagi frowned and turned back in his desk. He didn't feel like sitting there and listening to his girlfriend be turned into a dog. Oh yes, Sanada would pay for his remarks later.

[]

Kirihara ran to the lunchroom, searching for his senpai. Yanagi had requested for him to meet him in the lunchroom. Akaya ran until ran straight into someone.

"OOF!" Kirihara tripped and skidded to a halt on the floor.

"Oh," a feminine voice said, "I'm sorry."

She offered a hand up. Kirihara looked up. A first year girl with a pink ribbon in her black hair stood there with books in her other hand. He took the help up and studyed her for a moment. She looked vaugely familiar.

"You're in a couple of my classes, right?" Kirihara asked her.

She nodded and blushed, "I'm Sayuri."

Kirihara realized why he had been running and looked back in the cafeteria, "I'm kinda in a hurry so I can't stick around. Maybe I'll see you around."

He waved and ran off. Sayuri watched him run off and sighed.

"See you."

[]

"Ah, Akaya," Yanagi looked up to see his kouhai running towards his table.

The table consisted of Yanagi, Sanada, Nakikora.

"You wanted to see me?" Kirihara screeched to a halt, "are you sick or something? I tried to ask fukubucho what was wrong yesterday, but he kept telling me to drop it."

Sanada opened his mouth to scorn Kirihara for running in the cafeteria, but decided it wasn't worth it.

"No," Yanagi shook his head, "everything's fine now."

"Then what did you want to speak to me about?" Kirihara asked impatiently.

"The other day you had asked me about training menus and I-"

Kirihara was baffled.

"Traning menus... you wanted to asked me about my training menus!"

Yanagi said nothing.

"Augh! I don't get you senpai," Akaya threw his hands in the air and walked away.

Nakikora watched the frustrated first year walk back out the cafeteria.

"Was there a point to that?" Nakikora looked sideways at Yanagi.

"I could ask you the same thing about calling Sayuri into the lunchroom," Yanagi pointed to the first year walking towards Nakikora, "she usually eats in her classroom, right?"

Nakikora gave a wry smile.

"You asked to see me, Nakikora-senpai?" Sayuri asked her.

"I did Ribbon-chan," Nakikora smiled, "I won't be able to help you train today, do you mind doing it in 2 days?"

"No," she shook her head, "I'm grateful for your help. If you need to take a day off from me, it's fine."

"Stop that," Nakikora gave a small hit on the head, more playful than hurtful, "you could contend with most of the regulars if you played your best."

"Thank you senpai," Sayuri bowed. She turned to Yanagi, "I guess it worked senpai," she gave him a beaming smile.

"It did," he nodded, "thank you."

Sayuri smiled with a blush and walked away. Yanagi turned back to Nakikora.

"You called her for the same reasons I called him?"

Nakikora glanced down at her lunch, a smile growing, "more or less."

Sanada observed the whole thing. Then he turned back to his lunch.

"You two are meddlers," he told them, "glad you guys are togther."

Nakikora looked between Yanagi and Sanada.

"Did you tell him?" Nakikora asked him.

"No," Yanagi looked at Sanada, "I'm 87% sure he watched the whole thing."

Sanada suddenly became more interested his lunch.

Nakikora grinned with a likeness scarily resembling Niou.

"And you had the gall to call us meddlers."

[]

Yagyuu walked into the cafeteria and sat down a his usual table with book and lunch in hand. Out of nowhere, Niou came to the table.

"Cool, you brought me lunch," Niou pulled Yagyuu's lunch to himself.

"Very funny Niou-kun," Yagyuu pulled the lunch back, "why don't you go pester Nakikora?"

"I will go pester Kiko," Niou pulled the lunch back again, "but you're at the top of the list for the moment."

Yagyuu gave up fighting for the lunch and picked up his book. Niou began browsing through the lunch.

"Ah, Mayumi," Niou didn't look up from the lunch, "come to help me eat Hiroshi's lunch?"

Mayumi blinked. She was surprised he had seen her walk up.

"No..." she sat down at the table, "I actually came to ask Yagyuu something."

Yagyuu sat down the book, "yes, Mayumi-san?"

"Well, you see, I was so happy back at school, that I just realized today how far behind I am in schoolwork. I was wondering if you could tutor me until I catch up?"

"I don't mind," Yagyuu shrugged.

"That's great," Mayumi smiled, "uh, is it alright if I sit here?"

Yagyuu shrugged again.

"I'm going to get some lunch then," Mayumi got up.

Niou grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh come off it Niou-kun," Yagyuu went back to reading.

"You JUMPED on the chance to tutor her," Niou was still grinning.

"I could hardly call saying yes jumping on her offer."

"But you almost never answer that quickly to such an offer," Niou smirked.

Yagyuu looked up from his book to stare at Niou. Then he went back to reading his book. Niou gave a knowing smile and pushed the uneaten lunch back to Yagyuu. He got up and walked away.

[]

"Renji, what did you bring for lunch?" Nakikora asked curiously.

"I didn't bring anything," he told her, "I had planned on buying lunch today."

"Well," Nakikora slid her hand in her bag, "I have an extra ongiri if you want it..."

Her hand pulled out a small cloth covered box.

"You made me lunch?" Yanagi looked genuinely surprised.

"Nakikora... a homemaker?" Sanada had a small smirk at the title.

Nakikora gave him a withering look.

"Look, if you don't want it I can give it to Niou," Nakikora blushed.

"No, no... I'll-"

"Kiko!" Niou waved Nakikora down and sat next to her.

She shoved the ongiri back in her bag.

"Yangai, Sanada," he greeted them.

Sanada grunted and Yanagi sighed.

"Do you two mind if I borrow Kiko for the rest of lunch?" Niou asked them.

"What do you need me for?" Nakikora motioned Niou to leave.

"There's a project we need to finish," his eyes flashed as he got up and pulled her away.

She grabbed her bag and tried to yell sorry to Yanagi. Yanagi watched her go.

"Don't worry," Sanada patted him on the arm, "I'm sure you can meet up with her later."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Yanagi sighed and stared into the table.

"And I'm sure you two will-"

"If you finish that sentnce, and I know EXACTLY what you are going to say," Yangi warned, "you will regret it."

Sanada smirked, and went back to reading.

[]

"Do you want to do this, Kiko?" Niou pull her to the side in the hallway, "I thought we were going to start planning."

"Yes Niou," she rolled her eyes, "but I was in the middle of a conversation when you interrupted me."

"Quit lying," Niou whacked her arm, "I know you were doing something you didn't want interrupted."

Nakikora held her blush off her face, "whatever. Let's just get the ball rolling for this prank."

[]

Nori walked into the clubroom and went through the papers on her desk. She pick up a note that was left on the desk.

_Meeting in room 1103 at 4:15. Attendance manditory_.

"Hmmm," Nori put her hand on her chin.

Nakikora walked in the club room.

"Here are the forms you asked for from me," she put them on her desk.

"Nakikora, did someone come in here and put this on my desk while you were cleaing this morining?"

"No..." Nakikora frowned, "not while I was cleaning."

"Huh," Nori read through the note again, "thank you for the papers."

She nodded and walked out the door. Nori was still reading when she closed the door with a small smile.

[]

Sanada walked into the changing room and opened his locker. He adjusted some clothes in his locker and a piece of paper fell to the floor. He picked it up.

_Meeting in room 1103 at 4:15. Attendance manditory_.

Sanada looked around the lockeroom. Nobody in sight. He opened the door and looked outside. Yukimura was walking to the lockeroom.

"Hey Genichirou," Yukimura walked in, "what's happening?"

"Do you know about this?" Sanada showed him the note.

Yukimura took it from his hands and read it.

"It seems you have a meeting to attend," he passed it back.

"But it isn't school official," Sanada argued, "it will interfere with practice."

"I can have Renji supervise if necessary," Yukimura shrugged, "and besides, it might be important."

"But... tennis practice..."

"Just leave early," Yukimura smiled, "you're overcomplicating things."

"And you're not helping," Sanada crossed his arms.

"You're my best friend," Yukimura raised his eyebrows, "I'm supposed to be a hinderance, not a help."

"You are worse than Yanagi," Sanada muttered.

"Accoridng to some of the others, you have been the one pestering Yanagi, not the other way around," Yukimura gave Sanada a knowing look, "that's very out of character for you, if I do say so myself."

"All I can say is he deserved it," Sanada began changing.

"Did I miss something?" Yukimura pulled off his shirt.

"You could say that," Sanada replied, thinking about the events of the previous day.

"Did something worth knowing happen?" Yukimura pulled the yellow shirt out of his bag.

"Oh yes," Sanada finished changing.

Yukimura waited. Sanada tugged his hat on.

"Well?" Yukimura adjusted his headband.

"Well what?" Sanada looked at him.

"What happened with Renji?" Yukimura asked.

Sanada tugged on his hat, "that, is something you will have to ask him."

Yukimura frowned, "secrets don't make friends."

Yanagi walked into the changing room and shut the door behind him. Both Yukimura and Sanada were staring at him.

"What?"

"Do you have something you want to share with me?" Yukimura crossed his arms.

"No...?"

"Something about yesterday?" Sanada motioned his eyes at Yukimura.

Yanagi scrunched his eyes at Sanada. Sanada mouthed the word 'Nakikora'

"Oh..." it finally dawned on him.

Yukimura looked at Yanagi questioningly.

"I was just having wierd mood swings yesterday," Yanagi shrugged, "I kinda flipped on Genichirou."

Yukimura studied Yanagi's face carefully. Yanagi just looked at him calmly.

"I guess, I will start practice," Yukimura walked out the door.

Immediately when the door was shut, Yanagi nearly melted.

"That was pretty good," Sanada amended.

"Another 5 seconds I would have cracked," Yanagi fell onto the bench.

"I might have been able to last 10 more than that," Sanada shrugged.

"Oh shut up. You would have been putty within the first 3 seconds. The way you act around him sometimes," Yanagi scoffed

"That's not fair," Sanada folded his arms, "after he got out of the hospital we were all worried."

"Yeah, and if Nori hadn't come along, I would be thinking you are gay right now."

Sanada glared at him.

"Well about 52% of the student population thinks you are anyway," Yanagi told him.

Sanada gave him a dirtier glare.

"Loverboy," he spat.

"You know, now that I think about it," Yanagi scratched his head, "with both Yukimura AND Nori, you could be bi, but that would be disconcerting for me because-"

Sanada threw a towel at his face.

[]

Nori watched as first years passed her doing laps. She checked her watch and called practice to a halt. The regulars stopped their warm up rallies and the second years stopped doing their exercises.

Hara got up from picking up balls and putting in the crate.

The members walked over to her waiting for the announcement.

"I have to go to a meeting," she told them, "you are to continue your drills until I get back."

There was silence.

"Who's going to run practice?" Sayuri asked meekly.

Everyone looked at her.

"Ah..." she blushed, "that was a bad question."

Arisu, who was in the back of the crowd, let out a small sigh and went back to picking up tennis balls.

_Not at all_, Hana thought, _the question 'Who is running practice' is the same as 'Who is the new vice captian'._

Nori was silent.

"Makio," Nori turned to her.

There were some gasps in the crowd. They backed away from the third year that was called out of the crowd.

"You know what to do," Nori told her.

"On it," Makio nodded.

"No way!" Hana exclaimed.

The girls backed away from Hana.

"You got a problem with me being in charge?" Makio eyed her.

"I do," Hana stepped up, "I don't think you're responsible enough."

Makio's mouth became a fine line.

"It's my decision," Nori separated the two, "if you have an objection, talk to me."

Hana backed off and bowed her head.

"Yes bucho."

Nori glanced at the girls and left. Everyone stood for a moment and absorbed the shock of what just happened.

"Why are you guys standing around?" Makio crossed her arms, "get back to training!"

First years began running again, and the others returned to the courts.

"Man!" Hana bounced a ball hard on the court, "Makio shouldn't be in charge!"

"Obviously Nori trusts her," Mayumi examined her racket.

"But she's so immature!" Hana argued.

Mayumi gave her a look.

"Okay, not immature," Hana raised the hand holding the ball, "but come on, her hair is three different colors."

Mayumi shrugged.

"RRRR!" Hana hit the tennis ball straight into the fence, inches away from hitting Arisu.

The blonde blinked and quickly walked out of the way as fast as she could. Hana watched the girl scamper away and walked back to the ball box.

"You think you should be vice captian?" Mayumi said with a smile.

"I know it sounds vain, but yeah," Hana began bouncing the ball, "Nakikora is too mischevious, you are too nice, Makio is too rebelious, and Suzume is too... well, you know."

Hana hit the ball to Mayumi. She returned the ball.

"That's why I don't understand why Makio is now vice captian," Hana sliced the ball.

Mayumi smiled.

"There's one thing that I don't know," she ran to return the ball, "when did Makio become vice captian?"

Hana stopped running. Mayumi sent the ball flying to the other side of the court. It bounced and hit the fence.

"Nori said she is in charge-"

"Of this practice," Mayumi nodded, "but I never heard her say Makio became vice captian."

Hana looked down at the ball with a smile. She picked it up.

"You know, I think you're right."

"Hey, have you two seen Nakikora?" Suzume walked onto the court, "she was warming up with me before practice stopped and now I can't find her."

Mayumi and Hana looked between each other.

"Maybe she's helping Ribbon-chan," Hana shrugged.

"Sayuri?" Suzume pondered, "maybe..."

"Don't sweat it," Mayumi smiled, "you can warm up with us."

[]

Sanada walked throught the school hallway and up the stairs. He walked through the door of room 1103.

"Genichirou? Why are you here?" Nori said in surprise.

"Why are YOU here?" Sanada asked her.

She pulled out her note, "because of this."

He scanned it.

"I got one just like it," he pulled it out of his pocket, "even the same handwriting."

"Handwriting..." Nori looked at the two notes, "waitaminute! This is Nakikora's handwriting."

"Are you sure?" Sanada leaned in.

"Positive," Nori looked up, "she gave me some forms this afternoon that had her handwriting on it. Look."

She pulled a piece of paper and showed it to him. They were the same.

"It can only mean one thing," Sanada concluded, "Nakikora is up to something."

BAM! Click!

Sanada and Nori looked to the sounds and the door was shut. Sanada walked over to the door and jiggled the knob.

"It's locked," he told her.

"Well use the lock on the inside to unlock it," she waved her hand at the door.

"It's a double lock," he said, "there's only a keyhole on this side."

"What?" Nori's eyes widened.

She ran to the door and tried to open it. They were screwed.

"Whatever is happening, it can't be good," Sanada said grimly.

"I'm going to kill her," Nori gritted her teeth.

Sanada had a dark look on his face.

"You won't be the only one."

* * *

Ooooh! Cliffhanger!

But I am alive by the way. Sorry for the long wait.

Hope you like and I'm always open to ideas, so throw them out! and Review! I really like reviews.

Thanks :)


	12. A big mistake

Soooo what's it been 4 months? Yeah... because it's been so long I'm gonna post. Hope you enjoy :)

* * *

**Chapter 12: A Big Mistake**

In one of the out of season lockerooms near the track, Niou and Nakikora were getting ready.

"Tarundoru," Niou said in Sanada's voice.

"That's pretty good," Nakikora was pinning up her hair into a Nori-style ponytail: everything up and out of the way.

"How long does it take for a girl to get ready?" Niou adjusted his black wig.

"For Nori, it doesn't take long. Come here and I'll put some tan on your skin."

Nakikora took some liquid coverup and put globs of it on Niou's skin.

"Don't forget your contacts," Niou began rubbing the makeup in.

"This is beyond thorough," Nakikora carefully put brown colored contacts in.

"I'm used to complex pranks," Niou shrugged as he finished his quick tan, "this will just be a good one if we do it right."

Nakikora took out her cartilage piercing and looked into the body length mirror. She would almost swear she was looking straight at Nori, instead of herself. 'Sanada' walked up behind her and put an arm on her shoulder.

"Are you ready Nori-san?" 'Sanada' asked her.

"Yeah," she touched the mirror, "I'm ready Genichirou."

[]

"Hey Jackal," Marui looked around the track, "where's fukubucho?"

"According to what I heard Yukimura talk about, he went to a meeting," Jackal gestured and Yanagi and Yukimura.

"What's the meeting about?" Marui asked him.

Jackal shrugged, "the heck if I know."

"Yagyuu!" Marui called him out, "do you know where Sanada is?"

"At a meeting!" he called back.

"Everyone knows that!" Marui yelled sarcastically, "but why?"

"Why are senpai-tachi yelling?" Kirihara complained as he stuck his fingers in his ears.

"Because brat," Marui tussled his hair, "if you had been listening, we are trying to figure out what Sanada's meeting is about."

"Even though it's none of your business, the prospect of what it COULD be is intriguing," Yagyuu walked over to them.

"It's 95% likely that you four are talking about Sanada's meeting," Yanagi walked up to them.

"It's been two days since I've heard you spout statistics," Marui popped a gum bubble, "I was almost missing it. Almost."

Yanagi thought about it. Maybe Nakikora had affected him in more ways than one.

"Yeah, you've been acting wierd senpai," Akaya looked up at him, "did something-"

"Change? I'm sure it did," Yanagi nodded.

"Do you have any theories on what Sanada is meeting about?" Yagyuu asked, changing the subject.

"Actually..."

Kirihara didn't like the sound of that. 'Actually...' was always followed with a long technical explanation of whatever he was talking about. Kirihara walked away before Yanagi got technical. Even though Yanagi was one of his favorite senpais, he could be incredibly boring.

He scanned the perimeter of the track field. The edge of school property... the faculty parking lot... the soccerfield...

Kirihara's gaze froze on the soccerfield. Two people in Rikkai Yellow tennis uniforms were walking out, hand in hand.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Marui looked out to the field.

Kirihara pointed to the two people. Marui's jaw fell.

One of them was wearing a black cap.

"Hey Bunta, why don't we get back to practice?" Jackal walked over to the group.

Kirihara and Marui were still in shock. Jackal turned his gaze to the field. The girl had pulled out an mp3 player and showed it to the guy.

Yanagi walked over to the group and observed their expressions. He scanned the horizon. Yanagi forced his eyes open just to make sure he was seeing things clearly.

"Is that Sanada?" Yagyuu walked over serenely.

"How can you be so calm?" Marui spluttered.

"He would find someone eventually," Yagyuu shrugged, "it was just a matter of time."

The guy took the headphones of the mp3 player and stuck one in her ear then his ear.

"But fukubucho isn't romantic," Akaya protested.

"Like you know anything about romance," Marui muttered.

Yagyuu raised an eyebrow, "his actions say otherwise."

The team looked out and saw the two were slow dancing to the mp3 music.

"But who's that with him?" Jackal pointed at the girl.

"By the looks of it," Marui squinted, "I think its Yamamoto Nori."

Yanagi closed his eyes, "I'm 87% sure Marui's observation is correct."

Yagyuu nodded, "it does indeed look like Nori-san. Or Nakikora."

Yanagi flinched at the thought.

"No, that has to be Nori," Marui pointed at them, "Nakikora wouldn't be frolicing in a field with Sanada, for any reason."

The pair was still dancing.

"Did anyone see this coming?" Akaya exclaimed, "anyone?"

The second years looked between each other.

"I don't think anyone did," Marui put a hand on his chin as he blew a bubble.

Yanagi coughed. The regulars looked at him expectantly.

"Something in my throat," he rubbed his neck, "95% sure."

"You are 100% full of crap," Marui called him out, "you liar, you knew."

"I knew nothing of the sort," Yanagi crossed his arms, "I may have ASSUMED..."

"Or in data-speak, you knew," Jackal said dryly.

Yanagi was about to advocate his defense but there was sudden movement on the soccerfield. Sanada had tripped... and had fallen on top of Nori.

The team froze with anticipation for Sanada to push up quickly, but he didn't. Instead, he did something else.

His face leaned down and his lips touched hers.

"OW! OW!" Marui hollered, "way to take advantage of the situation!"

"Go fukubucho!" Kirihara whistled.

The girl pushed the guy off her and stood up. She looked angry. The guy stood up.

"Uh, oh," Jackal looked worried.

Some words were exchanged and then Nori slapped him.

Yamamoto Nori slapped Sanada. Sanada stood there, too stunned for words. Nori said something then walked off the field.

The regulars went silent. None had expected such a strong reaction, even from Nori. Sanada ran off the field after her.

"And what are you five staring at that is so important?" a voice asked from behind.

The regulars turned around to see Yukimura standing there.

"Well?" he looked at them expectantly.

They all exchanged glances and looked out to the field. It was empty.

"It was this bird," Mauri stammered, "it was doing some hard core flips and crap and was getting close to the ground."

"Yeah," Kirihara nodded too eagerly, "it was such a beast."

Yukimura raised an eyebrow. He wasn't buying it. He waited for the real answer. All the regulars remained silent.

"Yagyuu-senpai," Kiriharra finally broke the silence, "can you help me increase my speed? I want to face Sanada again with the upper hand."

"I believe so," Yagyuu adjusted his glasses as the sun reflected them, "why don't we go?"

The two walked away quickly.

"Race you Jackal!" Marui yelled as he slapped Jackal's back and ran.

Jackal sighed and ran down the hill after him.

Only Yanagi and Yukimura were left. Yukimura studied Yanagi's grim expression.

"Genichirou?" Yukimura guessed.

Yanagi nodded, "let's go find him."

[]

Nakikora ran down the hallways. She couldn't believe Niou had done it. Everything was going right and without reason Niou had kissed her. KISSED HER.

Maybe he had done it for show, but the only one allowed to kiss her was Yanagi, and he had only done it once. Did that make Niou equal to Yanagi on some strange scale? Did it even matter?

Nakikora was so confused. She just wanted to get away from the whole mess.

She ran up the staircase and kept running until she reached the roof. Nakikora burst through the door and turned to let her back hug the brick wall. She put her hands on the warm baked clay and stood there until tears began to sting her eyes. She slid down the the wall until she was curled in a ball and tears were slowly journeying down her cheek.

_What am I going to do?_

[]

"Is this your first time as a prank victim?" Sanada asked as they sat in desks.

"Believe it or not, no," Nori shook her head.

"It's not too hard to believe," Sanada muttered, "considering the likeness between Nakikora and Niou."

"The first one she ever did was the balloon incedent," Nori recalled, "it was ID day my second year, you know, when we get our photos taken for our student ID?"

Sanada nodded.

"I had made a big fuss about everybody hurrying up so I could get ready after practice. I always wanted to look perfect back then."

Sanada continued listening.

"After I had gotten perfectly primped and ready for THE BEST photo ID I had ever taken, I remembered I had forgotten my old ID card in the clubhouse. I walked in and found my card and opened the door to walk back out to have 10 balloons filled with paint burst on my head."

Sanada winced.

Nori laughed, "My picture that year was horrible, and every time security saw it, they laughed. But in way, I guess it was a good thing."

"A good thing?" Sanada said in disbelief, "to have balloons of paint dropped on your head?"

"After the incedent, I never really cared what I looked like anymore," Nori explained, "I got more serious about what I did than what position my hair was in. In a way, you could say she's the reason I'm captian now."

"Nakikora is more thoughtful than I originally thought," Sanada frowned.

"Now that I think about it, all the pranks she pulled were always for a reason," Nori pondered, "she always expressed something with her pranks."

"If this is one of her pranks, then what reason does she have to do this?" Sanada asked skeptically.

"I don't know," Nori thought hard, "I don't know."

There was a 'click!' on the other side of the door. Nori and Sanada raced to the door and opened it just early enough to see a yellow uniform turn the corner.

"Hey you!" Nori yelled, "come back here!"

The two raced after the sound of the footsteps to get an explanation for why they had been locked up. They turned corners and corners chasing the yellow jersey. They almost caught it until they nearly ran into two other people.

"Someone's in a hurry," Yukimura used his arms as defletors.

"Did you see a person in a yellow jersey?" Nori puffed.

"No, but we did see two people on a soccer field," Yanagi raised his eyebrows, "make up so soon?"

Nori and Sanada had blank expressions.

"We were fighting?" Nori furrowed her eyebrows.

"Didn't Genichirou kiss you and then you got angry and slapped him?" Yukimura asked.

Nori could have gone pink at the thought of kissing Sanada, but she was too confused.

"No! When did this happen?"

"Approximately 5.2 minutes ago, like we said, on the soccerfield," Yanagi calculated.

"We couldn't have," Sanada shook his head, "we went to the room for that 'meeting' and got locked in for a good twenty minutes."

"So then who was that out there?" Yukimura pointed outside.

Sanada and Nori looked at each other. They had their suspicions, but no proof.

"We'll get back to you on that one," Noir conceded.

"We had better get back to practice," Yanagi rechecked his mental clock, " any longer and the team will be thrown into chaos by Niou."

That is, if he is even there, Sanada thought.

The group began walking back through the school. Sanada looked up a flight of stairs as he passed by them, then kept on walking.

Then he froze.

The others passed him by as he listened to the faint sobbing.

"Genichirou?" Yukimura turned as he noticed the fukubucho's lack of movement.

He didn't know why he was doing this, he hated crying and drama.

"I will catch up with you guys in a minute," he turned to the stairs, "I'm going to check something out."

"Do you want some assistance?" Yanagi offered.

"No," Sanada said almost too quickly.

If it was who he thought, Yanagi would be the last person that need to come with him.

He took the stairs in quick strides following the sound of crying. Sanada continued ascending the concrete stairs until he reached the door the roof. The sobs were coming from behind the door. Sanada turned the knob slowly until it clicked. Then he pushed the door open. The sobbing immediately increased as the door swung open.

He walked around the roof and found the source of the crying.

"Nakikora?"

Nakikora sat on the pavement with her knees curled up to her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed into her legs.

"Whats... wrong?" Sanada said akwardly.

He never was good with girls. Personally, he still didn't know why he had come up to the roof.

"I-I've don't a h-h-horrible thing," she sobbed heavily.

"You need to calm down," Sanada said with alarm, "sobbing like that will make you sick."

Nakikora laughed bitterly and began to sob harder. Sanada wanted to help Nakikora but first she was going to have to help herself.

He grabbed her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.

"You have to stop," he shook her, "you have to."

Sanada had no EARTHLY idea what he was doing, but he knew this is what he would do for Yanagi or Yukimura so he went with it.

Nakikora calmed down slowly. Eventually she got her sobs down to little hiccups.

"Now," Sanada sat down in front of her, "how about telling me what was wrong?"

"I... kissed Niou," she sniffled.

_That's why she was CRYING?_

"But you are dating Renji," Sanada said slowly.

She told him the story, from cleaning the office to running off the soccer field.

"... and then I cmae here," she let out a small hiccup.

Sanada sat there absorbing everything he had taken in.

"Now I"m just so confused," she covered her face with her hands and shook her head, "I don't know what to do."

"I know one thing you're going to have to do," he looked at her, his gaze unyielding, "Renji has to know."

"No!" her hands flew to the concrete ground, "that's the last person I want to tell!"

Sanada felt very bad for her.

"But that's the person that needs to know the most." Sanada said soberly.

Nakikora felt fresh tears falling down her face, "but... but I don't want to lose him."

"So you would rather lie?" Sanada raised his eyebrows.

Was this what a dating relationship was about? Lies? If that was the truth he didn't want to ever go out with a girl. He'd take the gut-wrenching truth any day over back-stabbing lies.

"No..." Nakikora looked down at concrete pebble.

"Then tell him," Sanada nudged at the pebble, "he's a logical person, he should take it in stride."

What if he doesn't forgive me?"

Sanada didn't know how to respond to that one. There was no comfort in the question or its answer.

Nakikora understood what his silence meant. She tried to blink the tears that were forming in her eyes. Sanada had seen her worst. SANADA GENICHIROU. He didn't need to see any more. But the tears began streaming down her face again.

Sanada did the one and only thing he knew how to comfort a crying girl, but he saw it in a movie his sister had force him to watch with her. He didn't know if it applied to real life. He pulled over next to her a put an arm around her shoulder. She began crying a little harder and buried her face in his shoulder.

It was awkard, but at least it was effective. Now all he had to do was come up with an explanation for the stains that would remain on his jersey.

[]

Sanada walked into the lockeroom some time later. Practice was already over so he was glad for the privacy. No one would have to see him like this.

"What took you so long?" a voice came from one of the benches.

Sanada froze. He knew that voice anywhere. He turned.

"Yukimura," he said quietly.

"Well?" Yukimura narrowed his eyes.

"The thing I went to check on took longer than I thought," he said vaugely as he went to his things. He changed as quickly as he could.

Yukimura grabbed the tear-stained shirt Sanada tried to stuff in his bag, and stared at it for a moment with a somewhat surprised expression.

"I'd press you for more since I know you are lying, but it seems to be for a good reason," he gave back the shirt.

Sanada couldn't have been more grateful. It would have been embarassing to try and explain the whole thing. Yukimura picked up his things and walked out the door.

Once he finished changing, Sanada began walking home. He wondered whether Nakikora had approached Yanagi or not, but he hoped it would turn out for the best.

He had never seen Yanagi so happy, not that many could tell, but he hoped and prayed that it wouldn't end that so many realtionships in the tennis team had. Not because of the revenge that was usually wreaked on the team as a whole, but the damage it did to the person. Sanada never understood it himself, but the players with messy break-ups always leave some kind of trauma or damage or something.

Whatever it was, Sanada didn't want that for Nakikora and especially not for Yanagi.

* * *

FINE! for now at least.

Very dramatic, no? I didn't think Sanada had it in him! but that's it until I can get the next chapter written.

Thank you for taking time to read :)


	13. Cleaning up after a messy chapter

Okay so writing that last chapter, a big mistake, was in and of itself...

a BIG mistake.

It is not as good as it should have been so I tried to write a better one... though I'm not sure it is. But why not take a look anyway?

* * *

**Chapter 13: Cleaning up after the messy chapter**

Niou awoke to the sound of pebbles hitting his window.

"Oy! Kiko!" he shoved his window open, "you know where the key is so use it!"

"Nakikora-san knows where your house key is?" a voice said with surprise.

"Yagyuu? Why are you here?" Niou leaned on the window ledge, looking down.

"Nakikora-san asked me to wake you because, as she put it, 'angry enough to beat your brain in with a racket the next time she saw you'," Yagyuu fixed his glasses.

"So she still worries about me even when she's angry," Niou rested his head on his hands with a smirk.

"Come again?"

"I made Nakikora angry," Niou said bluntly.

"Really," Yagyuu pursed his lips.

"Dumb gentleman," Niou picked up a pencil on his desk and threw it at Yagyuu.

"If I may be so bold to ask, what did you do?" Yagyuu put his hands in his pockets as he side-stepped the pencil.

"Oh, I kissed her," Niou said nonchalantly as he shut the window.

Yagyuu stood in silence, processing the words that had come from Niou's mouth. He waited on the doorstep until there was a clicking noise and Niou opened his front door.

"Ready to go?" Niou locked his door.

He began walking past Yagyuu and to the sidewalk. Yagyuu caught up with him.

"Why?" Yagyuu asked him.

Niou turned and smiled at his doubles partner.

"For revenge. For not telling me the truth. Hah, I didn't even start planning revenge until halfway through the.." Niou stopped.

Yagyuu had caught up with him.

"Halfway through the what?" Yagyuu asked him.

Niou waved a hand as if it was no big deal.

"Oh, through a prank," Yagyuu guessed, "Nakikora was helping you with a prank and you found out some horrible truth."

Niou made no sound, but continued walking. Yagyuu had all he needed and went into silence and they continued walking to school.

"Dating," Niou said randomly.

"Pardon?" Yagyuu stopped, waiting for some Mayumi comment.

"Nakikora started dating someone and didn't tell me," Niou shugged as if it was no big deal.

"If I didn't know better," Yagyu began walking again, not taking his eyes off Niou, "I'd say you were bitter."

Niou snorted like Yagyuu had just suggested they give up tennis to take up ballet.

"Well, when you broke up with Miyori..." Yagyuu trailed off.

"Hey! She was my first girlfriend and I thought she was cheating on me!" Niou retorted defensively.

"And you still thought she was cheating on you after the two of you had been apart for 2 months," Yagyuu said dryly.

"If you ever mention her again, I will spill your darkest secrets to Mayumi as well as the rest of the school," Niou threatened.

"I have no dark secrets," Yagyuu gave Niou a reproachful glance.

"I'm sure I can dig up SOMETHING," Niou changed to a lazy attitude.

Yagyuu sighed and shook his head.

"Whatever you do," Yagyuu shrugged, "you are still bitter about Nakikora."

"That's it. Me, Mayumi, and your closet of secrets, it's going down."

"Why are my secrets in a closet?" Yagyuu asked, amused.

"A gentleman does not allow his secrets in the open," Niou said in a snobby accent, "they are hidden in a shoebox in the back of his closet. Much like his dead ex-wife."

Yagyuu permitted a low chuckle but got serious again quickly. Then he realized what was happening. He studied Niou for a long time.

"You are so bitter you don't even want me to know," Yagyuu said in almost amazement, "you keep changing the subject."

Niou grimaced. He didn't like anyone analyzing him, even Yagyuu. He quickly constructed a facade.

"If you think I'm bitter because I didn't get there first, you are wrong. It's just the fact that she didn't tell me."

It was true. At least partly. Yagyuu accepted what he said at face value and pushed on towards school. Niou pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind, they had tennis practice this morning.

[]

Sanada was sitting on the train next to Yanagi. He had reached Renji's house this morning and Yanagi had said the normal 'morning Genichirou,' and not a word more. Had Nakikora told him what Niou had done? Did Yanagi even know what had happened?

"Yes Genichirou, I know what happened," Yanagi said dryly. Sanada flinched.

"You are doing that mind reading thing again," Sanada said in a warning tone.

"I've only told you a thousand times why it is too illogical for me to read minds," Yanagi said slightly annoyed, "it's all data."

"And I've only told you a thousand times that I don't believe you."

"Fine," Yanagi said curtly, "I won't tell you what I said to her." Sanada went silent. He didn't think Yanagi would tell him in the first place.

"What DID you say to her?" Sanada turned his head to his friend. Now it was Yanagi's turn to be silent.

"What? You didn't say anything to her?" Sanada eyed him. Yanagi shifted in the train seat slightly.

"You didn't say anything," Sanada's eyes widened. Yanagi shifted again.

"Renji, that wasn't a question," Sanada said in a serious tone.

"What was I supposed to say?" Yanagi finally said in a quiet voice, "my girlfriend kissed another guy less than 48 hours after we started going out, Niou no less."

"You saw her doing the prank, you know Niou went for it and she got angry," Sanada argued.

"You didn't see the way they were dancing together," Yanagi said, "you didn't see that pan out."

"She didn't do it to get revenge on you for anything, it was to get to Nori," Sanada retorted. He paused to listen about what he said. It sounded really lame..

Yanagi gazed at Sanada, then directed his attention elsewhere.

"At least she told you," Sanada argued, "it could have been a long time before you ever knew and guilt would have eaten her alive." Yanagi turned to Sanada and studied him.

"Surprisingly," Yanagi turned his head back to the train window opposite the seat, "I would have preferred her never telling me at all."

[]

Sanada and Yanagi got off the train in silence. Thes was not good at all. Yanagi and Nakikora at odds was all his fault. But how could he tell Yanagi that? They hadn't been dating for mor.e than two days and they were already fighting? This was not healthy.

"Just tell her you forgive her," Sanada said out of the blue.

"Excuse me?" Yanagi looked at him.

"If you really want her then forgive her," Sanada said, "if you can't forgive, then give her up."

Yanagi had listened and had gone silent. He was considering what was said.

"I don't think I can forgive her yet," Yanagi was facing forward, "not after such betrayal."

"So the two of you are going to break up," Sanada simply. Yanagi looked uncomfortable at the prospect of losing Nakikora.

Sanada ground his teeth togther. Why was Renji being so STUPID?

"It's very simple," Sanada layed it out for him, "you can either be with her, or not be with her, very simple!"

"It's not that simple. She kissed someone else Genichirou, what am I supposed to say? 'Oh! it was an accident? Of course I fogive you! No, you didn't hurt my feelings, no, it didn't cut deep, no, you weren't my first kiss..." Yanagi stopped.

"Oh," Sanada said quietly. He had forgotten that detail.

"Yeah, oh," Yanagi turned his head to the school coming up on the horizon. Sanada tried to think of something to say. There was nothing that could comfort his aching friend. And it wouldn't sound too pleasing to learned that his friend had comforted his girlfriend instead Yanagi himself.

They reached the campus and Yukimura standing at the tennis courts. They set their bags in the locker room, changed, and went out to meet Yukimura.

"Okay," Yukimura looked between the melancholy pair, unsure of what was wrong, "let's get ready for practice."

[]

The team lined up at the base line as the three demons stood in front of them.

"As you all should know," Yukimura began, "the district matches are upon us. Saturday, we shall make our debut for the beginning of the season. These next few practices shall decide who plays in the district matches. We are not Hyotei, we do not show off some of our lesser known and beat other teams simply for pride, we play our matches without mercy to show what the best are made of. We shall be conditioning in the morning and the afternoon in the matches. Sign up if you think you are good enough to beat any of the regulars. Begin your laps and we will start with drills. Dismissed."

The team began running.

"Now that they've begun," Yukimura turned to his friends, "what's wrong?" Both Sanada were observing different players running in the pack, not making eye contact, not saying a word. Yukimura frowned.

"If this affects how we do at district, and it would be have to be very traumatic to do so, I will not tolerate it," Yukimura said firmly.

"It won't," Yanagi finally spoke up, "I will be attending to it this afternoon." Sanada had to wonder, was Yanagi going to take care of Niou... or Nakikora?

[]

Yukimura walked into his first class of the day and began pulling out his homework. He began checking it to make sure he had done it right.

"Oh, there's a mistake. Nakikora could I-" he turned to her desk. It was empty.

_Funny_ Yukimura thought, _she never misses school_.

Yukimura thought back to how weird Sanada and Yanagi had been acting; did this have something to do with it?

_Perhaps she is really sick,_ Yukimura frowned.

He decided he would talk to Nori considering it was one of her players.

[]

The bell rang and Yukimura put away his papers and quickly exited to the hall. He searched for the third year. He spotted a dark haired girl with a clean ponytail pinned up and out of the way.

"Nori-san!" he called out to her. She turned and saw who it was. Nori let him catch up with her.

"Just out of curiousity, but have you seen Suzuki-chan today?" Yukimura asked her.

"No," Nori said darkly, "she skipped practice. I might just make her run all the way to the district matches because of this."

"That's why I'm asking," Yukimura nodded, "what if she's sick and doesn't get better? The tournament is only two days away."

"I know," Nori sighed, "and I still have to fill that spot."

"Why don't you call her?" Yukimura suggested, "maybe get some confirmation."

"Yeah," Nori said, almost gruffly, "I probably should." Yukimura tried to hide his smile. Nori and Sanada were so alike it was comedic. They walked into Yukimura's study hall and Nori stopped at the door. Sanada noticed her standing there and got up. Yukimura sat down next to Yanagi.

"What seem's to be the problem?" Yanagi asked Yukimura.

"Nakikora isn't at school," he pointed to her seat at the table. Yanagi went rigid.

"Is that so?" he said stiffly. Yukimura frowned.

"I'm worried about the girls team doing good in the district tournaments, with that spot still needed to be filled and now Nakikora missing," Yukimura looked back to Sanada and Nori.

"Oh," Yanagi said, almost guiltily. Sanada finished talking to Nori and inserted himself back in the group and sat down.

"So?" Yukimura asked him.

"She's going to call in between classes," Sanada pulled papers out of his bag.

"Did you sneak a proposal in there as well?" Yukimura coughed while he began pulling out papers. Both Yanagi and Sanada stared at him.

"You knew?"

"I think you two forget," Yukimura gave a tiny smile, "I am friends with you two, or at least I was." Sanada and Yanagi looked at each other.

"But we do have quite a list of people who want to play on the regular team," Yukimura showed them the list, changing the subject, "even Akaya will be trying."

"If he goes up against that third year, he has an 89% chance of becoming a regular," Yanagi pointed out.

"But it wouldn't look good," Sanada warned, "it would like we were playing favorites if we set them up against each other from the get go."

"We could do a random drawing for where each player goes in the brackets," Yukimura said thoughtfully.

"But what happens if there is more than 2 regulars in each bracket?" Yanagi asked, "there are only four brackets and that means someone of lesser talent could be put on the team just because he go against someone with more skills than himself."

"Then we will put all the regulars in a separate drawing," Yukimura solved the problem, "and the people will draw for their bracket themselves, so no one can be accused of cheating."

"That sounds good," Sanada gave a nod. Yanagi nodded in agreement.

Yukimura got a text message. He opened it and read it.

"Don't you have a phone, Genichirou?" Yukimura looked up from his phone.

"I turn it off at school," he showed Yukimura.

"She told me to tell you to meet her at lunch," Yukimura raised an eyebrow, "going to eat lunch togther?"

"She's going to tell me how the call went," Sanada put some of his papers in his bag.

Yanagi stared at Sanada and Sanada stared back. One was daring the other to say something.

"But I don't know what happened to Nakikora or why," Yukimura interrupted their stare, "but I am sure it has something to do with you two and something that happened yesterday."

Yanagi caved and told Yukimura what had happened. Yukimura sat and listened to everything Yanagi said.

"Wow," Yukimura put down his pencil, "that is an ordeal in and of itself." Yanagi said nothing.

"But I do think that you need to forgive her," Yukimura gave a nod. If Yukimura and Sanada could have seen them, they would have said Yanagi was rolling his eyes at that moment.

"I haven't decided yet," Yanagi said dismissively.

Sanada set his own pencil down and stared at Yanagi in amazement, "really? Are you that stupid?"

"Genichirou, I don't think-"

"No Seiichi, he needs to hear this," Sanada narrowed his eyes, "whether you do or don't stay with her is a choice between the two of you, you don't get to call all the shots, and I would have thought you found that out pretty quickly I'd say."

Yanagi shifted in his seat.

"But if you think she is going to wait forever for an answer you are dead wrong. Nobody does that. She is going to get over it and move on if you do not act soon!"

"I don't know what I want to do yet!" Yanagi argued, "and all she can do is break up with me." Sanada growled in frustration.

"Then why don't you wait a few more days and she will!" Sanada said ferociously. Everyone looked at Sanada. Some were even kind of afraid. The bell rung. Yukimura and Yanagi watched as Sanada began putting his papers in his bag.

Sanada looked at Yanagi a meaningful glance.

"This must be painful, and I apologize for being so harsh, but if you don't get it togther, it is going to fall apart."

Yanagi didn't say a word, and turned around to his own bag. Sanada sighed and walked out the door.

"And I thought you were the smart one."

[]

In the next class, Yanagi sat in front of Yagyuu instead of near Sanada and Nakikora's empty seat. Yagyuu raised an eyebrow.

"Something happen?" Yagyuu asked. Yanagi pretended he didn't hear him.

"Sooo Hiroshi," Niou sat on his desk, "what did you bring me for lunch?"

"Get off my desk Niou-kun," Yagyuu said politely.

"You know you love me Hiroshi," Niou beamed at him.

"I do Niou," Yagyuu nodded, "I'd love for you to leave."

Yanagi chuckled at, 98.7% likely, the only joke he would hear today.

"Ohhh," Niou turned around to Yanagi, "not in your seat today. Did Sanada cheat on you?"

"It wasn't Sanada that did anything," Yanagi said without turning around.

Niou blinked, but grinned broadly. Yagyuu looked at Niou curiously.

"No..." he gaped devilishly, "I thought it was Sanada that..." Yanagi turned to look at Niou. Niou reserved his emotions to a small smirk.

"What are you talking about?" Yanagi raised his eyebrows. Niou turned so that Yanagi could only see his profile. He smirked again. If Sanada was going hide things from Yanagi, it wasn't HIS PLACE to say anything. It would work in their own ways. Niou got off the Yagyuu's desk and slid into his own. Yanagi watched him with a frown.

"Has Niou done something?" Yagyuu watched Yanagi with a calm expression.

"I'd say so, not that he'd admit it," Yanagi sighed. Yagyuu raised his eyebrows, but went back to his paper. The teacher called role, then instructed the class to start working on their assignments.

"Oh?" Yagyuu looked up at the empty chair, "Nakikora is not here?"

"I guess not," Yanagi shrugged.

"I guess Niou's revenge was effective," Yagyuu commented.

"Niou's revenge?" Yanagi looked back at Yagyuu.

"He, um, kissed Nakikora," Yagyuu scratched the back of his head.

"Niou being the player he is," Yanagi said in a growl. He gave a small jump. Had that been his voice?

"You could say that Niou did it because that's who he is," Yagyuu hesitated, "but Niou had a... DIFFERENT reason."

"Different reason?"

"Well, Niou does fool around sometime," Yagyuu said carefully, "but he also specializes in the art of revenge."

Yanagi pondered the word. _Revenge..._

"Yagyuu!" Niou called from his desk, "are you giving away my secrets?"

"Yes Niou-kun," Yagyuu nodded to his doubles partner, "I'm telling Yanagi the secret to your success."

"As long as you hide the main ingredient!" he waved his pencil.

Yagyuu nodded to the trickster and began working on his paper. Yanagi looked up at Sanada, who was busying himself with his own paper. Then he looked at Nakikora's empty desk. What had Yagyuu meant about revenge? Could Niou be wreaking revenge by kissing Nakikora? Yanagi mulled it over, but he couldn't find a reason that Niou would get revenge on him.

So why would he want to get revenge on Nakikora?

Yanagi knew this had to be the answer, but he didn't know why. He was missing something.

RIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGG!

The classroom shuffled as some put their books and things away and some pulled out lunches. After Yanagi put away his things, he went to apologize to Sanada, but... he had already left.

Yanagi sighed again. The world was most certainly against him today.

[]

Sanada searched the hallways and saw Nori resting on a wall, looking lost.

"What's wrong?" he came up to her.

"Nakikora isn't... coming," she stared at her phone.

"You mean to school?" Sanada folded his arms.

"To the tournament," Nori glared at her phone as if it was its fault.

"What?" Sanada blinked.

"Look," she scrolled through her messages. Sanada took the phone.

_'I'm sorry I didn't answer. I can't. I can't come to school, I can't come to the tournament, I would only drag you guys down. I hope you understand. And I'm sorry for the prank Niou and I pulled. I'm sure Sanada has explained or will explain. I hope I can make this right one day. -Nakikora'_

"Oh for CRYING OUT LOUD!" Sanada slammed the phone and began pulling Nori down the hall by the hand, "I have had it with this petty drama!"

Nori glanced at Sanada with a look of confusion, "what are we doing?"

"We going to drag her here if this the last thing I do for the sake of Rikkaidai," Sanada said with determination, "I wouldn't tolerate this from anyone on my team and I'm not going to tolerate it from anyone on yours."

"Ookay..." Nori said, still not ready to go gung ho on the whole thing, "what exactly happened in the prank that Nakikora was talking about?"

Sanada explained the whole thing on the way through the Rikkai campus and through the gates until they reached the train station.

"...And now he thinks he can wait out his decision," Sanada stopped in front of a large map of where the train ran. Nori stayed silent.

"So where does Nakikora live?" Sanada asked. Nori put her hands on her hips and looked at Sanada.

"What?" he blinked at her.

"I get a text that say next to nothing about what's hapnnening, you decide that we need to bring Nakikora back, so you go charging off without even knowing where she lives?"

"I took you with me, didn't I?" Sanada looked down at her, "or do you not know?"

Nori adjusted the jacket of her uniform, "oh, I KNOW. But I'm a little worried about your decision making skills."

Sanada tightened his tie, "so where does she live?" Nori rolled her eyes but finally pointed to a spot near their current train station.

"Let's go," he grabbed her hand and they hurried off down the streeet.

"Do you have to grab my hand?" Nori muttered.

"I'm sorry. Did I just hear the wind or are you COMPLAINING?" Sanada asked without looking back. Nori became silent. Sanada was glad he hadn't turned around, his face was heating up.

[]

The pair reached Nakikora's neighborhood and looked up and down the street.

"Which house is her's?" Sanada asked her. Nori didn't say anything.

"You do know which one is her's, right?" Sanada turned to face Nori.

"I think so..." Nori glanced at all the houses.

"You THINK so?"

"Well it's not on my priority list to go visit her every other day," she put her hands up, "you should be grateful I even remember the street."

Sanada muttered something indecisive but looked at all the houses just the same.

"We could go door to door," Nori offered.

"Only to have it slammed in our faces 13 times with them saying, 'no, I don't want to buy anything,'" Sanada commented. Nori searched up and down the street for the answer. A young blonde lady, perhaps in her early 30s, was walking down the street carrying a bag of groceries.

"Excuse me!" Nori called out to the lady.

"No!" Sanada hissed under his breath, "we are NOT asking for directions."

"Men!" Nori scowled, "it's not like we have any other options."

"That door to door thing sounds real good right now," he muttered.

"Excuse me," Nori chased her down the street, "miss!" The woman turned and smiled brightly as she saw Nori coming up the street.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you possibly live in this neighborhood?" she asked kindly.

"I do," she nodded, "did you need to ask a question?" Sanada walked over to the girls.

"Um, could you tell us where the Suzuki residence it?" Nori scratched the back of her head embarassedly.

"Suzuk? Just that house over there," she pointed to a house, "number 105."

The pair bowed to her and thanked her.

"Rikkaidai Fuzoku?" she noticed their uniforms. They nodded.

"Tell my son Masaharu I said 'hi!'," she smiled.

"I'm sorry," Sanada started, "we don't really associate with the elementary children."

"Oh he's not in elementary," her grin became smirkish, "he's a second year highschooler." She began walking down the street and walked up to what seemd like her own house. Nori and Sanada looked at each other.

"Could it have been?" Nori raised her eyebrows.

"No," Sanada shook his head, "not a chance."

[]

The two walked up to her supposed house and Nori looked at the door. She knocked. No answer. Nori waited a little longer, then knocked again. There was no answer.

"Nakikora!" she called, "I know you're in there!" She pounded on the door. Sanada looked around the porch.

"Hey!" he called Nori, "over here." He picked up a note and showed it to her.

"What does it say?" she asked.

"Milk, eggs, butter, rice," he read through the note. "Oh, my bad," he flipped it over, "I know I'm sick but I've gone to get some exercise and fresh air. I'll be back after 3 -Nakikora."

"So that's it," Nori took the note from Sanada, "she's not here. And we don't know where she went 'to exercise'."

"Let's go back to school," Sanada sighed, "this was only a total waste."

[]

Nori and Sanada were passing by the community tennis courts as they were talking.

"What is with you girls and being emotional?" Sanada asked her, irritated, "do you all just become useless once your broken by the first guy that rolls around?"

"Hormones," Nori said simply, "we have raging river hormones."

"Girls," Sanada muttered, "you know how hard it is to meditate in the dojo when my father brings in his younger class? All I can hear is giggling, screaming girls."

"Oh," Nori put her hands up, "sorry for being the opposite sex. I'll try to hide it next time."

Sanada was about to say something else, but a bright yellow jersey caught his attention. RIKKAI yellow. Sanda nudged Nori and pointed the player out. They walked up to the fencing to watch.

A girl had her hair pulled back to where you could see her cartilage piercing and was facing another girl. The girl seem to be soaked with sweat, but was extremely pale.

"Nakikora," Nori said. They watched her play her match. She lost a great number of points against an opponent that should have been easy for her. But she ended the game with a win, though just barely. She sat down on a bench, trying to catch her breath. Nakikora didn't look so good.

They walked in from the gate and Nori sat down next to Nakikora. She looked up, still panting.

"So this is what you call exercise," Nori folded her arms, "we have been looking for you." Nakikora didn't say a word.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" Sanada said gruffly. Nakikora shrugged her shoulders. She wiped away a large amount of sweat off her forehead. 'I cant talk,' she mouthed.

"Can't talk?" Nori looked at her in disbelief, "we came to see why you skipped school and you took a vow of silence?"

"I'm... sick" she rasped. Her voice sounded scratchy and made Nori want to cringe.

"You cried some more after you told Renji, didn't you?" Sanada said flatly. Nakikora scratched the back of her head embarassedly. Sanada shook his head.

"Both of you are being ridiculous," Sanada told her, "Renji can't 'make up his mind' and you just got sick worrying over it." Nakikora shrugged again. 'I think crying that long just took it out of me' she mouthed.

"So you decided to back out of the tournament just because you cryed all your stamina away?" Nori said sharply. Nakikora glared at her. 'You saw me,' she pointed to the court, 'THAT was ridiculous. I'm not going to make a fool of myself, I can't even talk.'

"We need the players," Nori said, "you know I can't spare any." Nakikora shrugged again. It was no skin off her back

"Maybe if you stopped and saw what position Nori was in, you wouldn't be so selfish," Sanada said quietly, "she's about to lose doubles one because of you." Nakikora looked up at the unusually involved vice captian. He retured her glance with a stern stare. She looked away.

'Okay,' she sighed, 'I'll come to practice, but I can't guarantee I'll be up to much playing.' Nori nodded.

"Go home and rest," she told her, "you look like you have overdone it. If you are too sick to come to practice, just text." Nakikora nodded. Nori checked her watch.

"We need to go back to school," she looked up at Sanada, "we are running out of time." Sanada nodded. Nori got up and they began walking off. Nakikora watched them they eventually disappeared down the road. Nakikora put her racket in her bag and picked it up. She sighed and began walking home.

[]

Sanada and Nori had hurried to the school and had reached the gate 5 minutes before classes started. The guard look at them suspicously as they passed the guard tower.

"Lunch date," Nori scratched her head, embarassed. The guard laughed and leaned back in his chair. The two scuttled through the hallway to get to their class before they were late.

"Genichirou," Nori called before she turned to go the opposited direction. Sanada turned to her.

"Thanks," she smiled. He nodded and hurried off to his class. Sanada slipped into his desk just before the bell rang. Yukimura raised an eyebrow.

"Where were you during lunch?" Yukimura looked amused.

"I was doing a favor for someone," Sanada said vaugely. Yukimura raised the eyebrow higher.

"Who exactly was the favor for?" Yukimura asked him. Sanada sat in silence for a moment.

"The Rikkaidai Fuzoku Girls' tennis team."

* * *

Okay... that wasn't my best... but we are getting somewhere. I really don't like how OOC the guys are getting, I'm going to start curbing it, especially Sanada.

Does anyone have a favorite chapter of mine? If some of you do, I'll see if I can go back to that writing style. Just for you guys!

The other day I was looking through some of my old notebooks and I found part of a fanfiction where Kaidoh had an oc, and it wasn't half bad. Should I consider writing it sometime in the future? After this story settles of course.


	14. Returning back

I think I'm getting bad at writing this fanfic... it's strayed too far. I'm going to give it a couple more chapters, but if I can't bring it in very soon I might have to end it.

I'm probably going to start focusing on the Discipline of Unwanted Work if this doesn't work out properly.

Anyways... I hope you like it.

* * *

**Chapter 14: Returning Back**

Nakikora woke up to the sound of her alarm. She sighed and turned her clock off. She got out of her bed and looked at the time. 2:45. Club activities wouldn't start for another hour so she had a little time to get ready.

She took a shower and changed into her uniform so she wouldn't have to use the locker room. Nakikora went downstairs and set her bag in a dining room chair. She went through the pantry hoping to find some soup.

Bingo.

She took her chicken broth can, and dropped the contents in a bowl, keyed a time on the microwave, and set the soup in said microwave. Nakikora shut the door of the microwave and pressed 'start'.

She walked to the dining table and put her head down as she listened to the microwave hum. Nakikora hadn't the faintest idea why she had gone to the community courts to play tennis; it had drained her more than it was worth. But she felt she owed it to the team to be at practice.

After three minutes the microwave beeped at her to check her soup. Kiko placed the steaming bowl on the table and looked at the kitchen clock. 3:10. She grunted and searched the cupboards for a thermos. When she found her prize, she quickly unscrewed it and poured the soup in it over the sink. Once the lid was back on it, Nakikora grabbed her things and walked out the door. Nakikora taped a note to the door and began walking down the street.

Nakikora reached the courts much earlier than she expected; it was only 3:30. She set her bag down and pulled her thermos out of her bag. Kiko unscrewed the cap and began drinking. It was liquid gold. She licked her lips and took another gluttonous sip. Nakikora felt like she could kiss whoever had invented the liquid food.

Her stomach churned at the word 'kiss'. She set her soup aside and sat back to study the tennis courts. It had only been a few months ago when the girls had started playing on those courts but it had felt like forever. Nakikora walked to one of the gates and pushed it open. She paced around the nets remembering the first drills they had done on this court.

Nakikora chuckled a hoarse chuckle at the memory of Sanada and Nori arguing for silly reasons.

"Nakikora-san?"

Kiko turned at the sound of her name. Yukimura had walked out of the boys' locker room fully dressed in uniform. She walked towards him.

"Why are you here?" he set his racket down on the bench. She mimicked swinging a tennis racket.

"For obvious reasons, I see," he smiled. Nakikora sat back down and brought her thermos back to her lips.

"I think water would be more beneficial," he raised an eyebrow as he caught a glimpse of the contents. She set the thermos down.

"Sick," she rasped, pointing at her throat.

"Sorry? I didn't catch that?" Yukimura cupped a hand to his ear. Nakikora gave him a nasty glare.

"No, no," he chuckled, "I get it. You are sick. But that's the next question: why are you here?"

She mimicked the racket with more fervor.

"No, I understand," he raised his hands in surrender. Yukimura could only count all the hours he had spent in the hospital, longing to be back on the courts. He sat down next to her as a few boys began to emerge from the locker room with rackets. Nakikora frowned.

_'Don't the girls get the courts today?'_ she mouthed.

"We are doing a little tournament to see who gets the regular spots," Yukimura turned to her. Nakikora watched as more and more boys filed out of the main building and enter the changing room.

_'I'd better go,'_ she mouthed and gathered her things quickly.

"You aren't in anyone's way," Yukimura said.

_'Oh, but I will be,'_ she grabbed her soup and began walking towards the track. Yukimura sighed as Nakikora hurried away.

"Who was that?" Sanada walked over to his friend.

"Suzuki Nakikora," Yukimura got up, "she sick, but for some reason, decided to come to practice." Sanada raised his eyebrows but said nothing. There was a faint gurgling sound coming from Sanada's stomach.

"Do I smell soup?" Sanada glanced around, pretending he didn't hear a thing.

"Nakikora-san was eating some a few minutes ago," Yukimura put a hand to his mouth. Sanada's stomach gurgled again.

"Did someone skip lunch to bring her back?" Yukimura watched as Sanada looked down at his betraying stomach. Sanada pulled down his cap and went to go check on the courts. Yukimura smiled. When it came down to it, Sanada was all heart.

"Are we ready to start?" Yanagi had sheets of paper in his hand as well as a jar full of slips of paper.

"Soon," Yukimura nodded, "we are waiting for everyone." Yanagi nodded and set down the jar and the papers. He noticed Sanada inspecting the court.

"If you'll excuse me," Yanagi walked off and began helping Sanada with his self-made task. Sanada looked up at him and Yanagi seemed to scratch the back of his head while speaking to Sanada.

Yukimura smiled again. It was nice to know that relationships mended.

[]

Yagyuu hurried along the side of the building. He had spent too much time talking to the teacher and was going to be late if for the first round if he didn't hurry. He nearly ran into a girl going at the same speed.

"Excuse me miss," he told the girl.

She put her hands up to show that it was okay. Yagyuu recognized her.

"Nakikora-chan, what are you doing here?" Yagyuu asked her. She rolled her eyes and mimicked hitting a ball with a tennis racket.

"No, I mean why are you here at school?" he fixed his glasses, "Niou and his-" Nakikora stopped him. She looked around to see if anyone was near.

"I realize why he did what he did," she whispered, "I'm still angry, but I understand." Yagyuu didn't quite understand, but he knew that wasn't what mattered.

"Are you going to be alright?" he asked her, "you don't look too good."

"I'll be fine," she whispered.

He gave her an appraising glance, then began walking again.

"Yagyuu!" Nakikora called in a scratchy voice. He turned.

_'Good luck,_' she mouthed with a thumbs up. Yagyuu gave a small smile and a nod. He disappeared around the corner. Nakikora turned and began walking to the track once more.

[]

"We are going to draw for slots," Yukimura held up Yanagi's jar, "when I call your name draw a slip then go show it to Yanagi." Yukimura went down the list and called out names.

"Kirihara Akaya," Yukimura reached his name. Kirihara walked up to Yukimura and pulled a slip out of the jar.

"Court B," he showed it to Yukimura. Yukimura nodded patiently and gestured to Yanagi. Yukimura called the next name.

After all the names were called from the list, the only remaining players were the regulars.

"What about us?" Marui popped a piece of gum.

"You guys will do a special drawing," Yukimura pulled out eight slips from his pocket, "that way we don't have a pile-up of regulars in one court." The players exchanged glances. Yanagi was hanging up a large block schedule of the the courts.

"Your hat, Genichirou," Yukimura held his hand out to Sanada.

"My hat?"

"We need something to draw the names from," Yukimura pushed his hand out a little farther.

"Here," Sanada gave him the now empty jar.

"But this needs to be special," Yukimura pouted.

Sanada took a piece of masking tape from Yanagi's roll and stuck it to the jar. Then he took the marker Yanagi had previously been using and labeled the jar 'special'.

"HA!" Marui laughed. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What? It was funny," Marui shrugged, "Sanada never does funny."

"Just draw," Jackal sighed. Yukimura dropped the slips in the jar and Marui drew the first one.

"C," he threw up a peace sign. Yagyuu pulled the next one out.

"Court D," he fixed his glasses. Niou stuck his hand in the jar.

"A," he told Yukimura. The one third year on the regulars drew.

"B court," he said quietly.

"Thank you Tetsuyama," Yukimura nodded with a smile. They had him exactly where they wanted him.

"D," Jackal told them. Yukimura turned the jar to Sanada. He stuck his muscular hand in and pulled out a slip.

"Court C," he held it up.

"Do you mind if I draw for you, Renji?" Yukimura shook the jar.

"Not at all," Yanagi was writing in the regular names on the block schedule.

"I'm in B, you are A, Renji," Yukimura called out. Both Niou and Yanagi froze.

"You don't say," Yanagi filled out the last two court blocks and turned. Niou leaned back on the fencing of Court B with a smirk.

"Who would-"

"'Who would have guessed it' is what you were going to say," Yanagi cut him off. Niou stopped smirking an went expressionless. The regulars could feel the tension in the air.

"Awkward," Marui whispered to Jackal in a sing song voice. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Genichirou, do you have your Katana with you?" Yukimura asked Sanada.

"What?" Sanada was caught off guard, "no I-"

"Sorry Genichirou," Yukimura coughed with a smile, "bad joke." Sanada just stared at him, at a loss for words.

"Well now," Yanagi dusted his hands off, "I think it's time we started the matched, don't you think so Seiichi?"

"I do," Yukimura clapped his hands togther, "Jackal, Yagyuu, Marui, and Tetsuyama will start of judging matches, and other will come and relieve you from time to time."

"What?" Marui complained, "what will you guys be doing?"

"Your vice captain and I will be observing matches and Yanagi will be manning the Court schedule, unless of course, you would prefer to trade jobs with him."

"No, no," Marui put his hands up, "judging is fine." Personally, Marui would rather judge the beginner's column in a tournament than have to sit at the board tallying scores.

Yukimura called the whole team over to board.

"This is a two match tournament," Yukimura told the mass, "and by two match, I mean if you lose two matches, you are out. All the usual tournament rules apply. If Yanagi calls out your name, go to your appointed court and be ready to play. If you did not sign up for the tournament, you have fifty laps to do by tomorrow afternoon."

The players that hadn't signed up began running. The other players turned to Yanagi.

"Court A: Niou and Kimura, Court B: Kirihara and Aizen, Court C: Waruka and Kisora, Court D: Zimura and Echiga," Yanagi called, "the rest of you check the block schedule for what match number you are."

The regulars scattered to perform their duties while the called players went to the courts. The rest of the Rikkaidai tennis mass swarmed the schedule.

"Wish me luck, Hiroshi," Niou nudged the gentleman in the arm.

"Good luck, Niou-kun," Yagyuu went off to Court D without a second glance.

"That wasn't very nice Yeahgyuu," Niou gave him a puppy dog look. Yagyuu glanced back at Niou.

"Would you like me to compose a sonnet of your daring battle in the first rounds?" he asked dryly.

"Yes I would," Niou replied haughtily, "make sure you capture my greatness while you are at it."

"Will do, Niou-kun," Yagyuu turned and began walking back to his appointed court

Jackal climbed up the chair in Court B.

"It was good going to Nationals with you Aizen," Akaya called from the other side.

"You sound like I'm going to die or something," Aizen responded with a frown.

"I'm glad you realize it," Kirihara laughed, "it makes my job a little easier." Jackal watched with interest. Had their young Kouhai grown up without them realizing it?

"Rough or Smooth?" Aizen got ready to spin his racket.

"Why don't you serve?" Kirihara answered, "it makes me no difference."

"You want rough, eh?" Aizen spun the racket. He looked down at where it landed. He was quiet for a moment.

"I'll serve," Aizen gestured for the ball.

"How did it land?" Kirihara asked.

"It was rough. I'll serve."

Kirihara laughed again and tossed the ball to Aizen.

[]

Yukimura walked around to different courts, observing games. All the games in the first round went by rather quickly. If they weren't decent players, they were pummeled. Yukimura had forgotten how good Rikkaidai really was. The first years Kirihara had led to Nationals were actually quite good, thought not at the necessary level. Yukimura made a mental note to consider forming a second string.

The regulars had cleaned house, as they should, and even Kirihara, Tetsuyama, and a few others had held their own. Now that round one was out of the way, round two was upon them.

"Are you sure this tournament will be completed in 3 rounds?" Yukimura took a break and sat down next to Yanagi.

"Four, if we have any upsets," Yanagi was writing down the statistics from the last match.

"How does it exactly work?" Yukimura asked.

"There are six players in each court and each court has two players that will become regulars," Yanagi began, "once you've lost a match, you enter the loser's bracket. You haven't offically lost in the tournament until you lose your second match. You can check the logic for yourself, but if it plays out according to first round wins, there should only be three rounds."

Yukimura nodded. It was fairly simple to understand how to be eliminated, your next opponent would just be according to how good or bad one did in the matches.

"The thing that makes round two exciting," Yanagi smiled coyly, "is that this is the round where the regulars will be going head to head."

[]

Sanada was observing the loser bracket matches in D. It wasn't that the players were bad, it was that they didn't have the stamina to keep up.

"Anyone good?" a voice said from behind him. He turned his head to see who it was. Nori was standing behind him in her school uniform, her arms crossed.

"Nori-san?" Sanada turned completely around, "don't you have practice?"

"We ended 10 minutes ago," Nori walked up to the fencing, "I can only make them run so many laps before I have to call it quits."

"Believe me, there is no limit to how many laps I could give," Sanada tugged at the brim of his hat. Nori smiled.

"Sanada!" Yanagi called across the compound, "your match with Marui is next!"

"I'm going to get ready," Sanada told Nori.

"Good luck," she nodded. Sanada returned the nod and walked over to his bag. Makio walked over to Nori and nudged her.

"Going for the prize, eh?" Makio nudged her again, "eh? eh?"

"NO," Nori swatted Makio, "I'm just wishing him luck."

"Strawberry-head needs it more than he does," Makio snorted, "Marui is about to get WHOOPED."

"I don't think he's going to get whooped..." Nori said uncertainly. Makio gave Nori a disbelieving look.

"It's Sanada, one of the big three," she said skeptically, "versus Marui, Doubles 2. He is about to be spanked like no other. Sanada is going to bend him over his knee and-"

"Okay, okay," Nori stopped her, "we get it, Sanada is a tennis god." Makio smirked.

"You said it, not me."

[]

"Ready for our match, Akaya?" Yukimura pulled out his racket. Kirihara had taken a larger victory than Tetsuyama, so Kirihara was Yukimura's opponent for round 2.

"You bet bucho!" Kirihara smirked, "I haven't had the chance to show you how much I've improved."

"I've been waiting," Yukimura stepped onto the court, "show me how good you've become."

Kirihara noticed he didn't have his jacket draped over his shoulders. Yukimura was serious. Kirihara grinned

He stepped up and threw the ball in the air.

"Come at me bucho!" Akaya served the ball.

[]

"Yagyuu-sama!" a girl cried. Fangirls were screaming.

"Jackal-sama!"

"We love you Marui-san!" a group of girls chorused.

"I'd forgotten fangirls existed," Hana muttered, "I guess they only swarm on tournament days."

"Wait," Suzume said loudly, "is that Atobe-sama?" Half the girls went silent looking for him. Hanad hid her snickers behind her hand.

"That was awesome," Hana high-fived her best friend, "please do that on Saturday."

"Was someone looking for a king?" a voice drawled. Both Suzume and Hana froze. Atobe didn't just come to Rikkaidai for nothing, did he?

"Were you looking for Ore-sama?" a hand was put on Suzume's shoulder. The girls turned slowly.

"Puri," Niou stuck his tounge out at them.

"Niou!" Hana swatted at him, " that wasn't funny!" He grinned.

"Ore-sama thought it was hilarous," he said with a smirk.

"You scared us Niou," Suzume pouted, "I thought we were about to be in for the embarassment of a lifetime."

"Then you better be careful what you say around the tournaments," Niou said in his normal voice, walking away.

"Atobe will be busy though," Hana shrugged, "and fangirls are fangirls anywhere." Niou stood still for a moment.

"You have never met Hyotei fangirls, have you?"

[]

"Yamamoto-san, I haven't seen Mayumi-san or Nakikora," Yagyuu walked over to Nori. He was wiping sweat off his brow from his match with Jackal.

"That's because they are probably still down at the track," Nori told him, "they were working on something before I left." Yagyuu nodded.

"If you want to go ask her out," Nori eyed him, "now would be-"

"I'm laughing on the inside," Yagyuu cut her off, "I cannot express how hilarious that was."

"I thought you were the gentleman in this group," Nori raised and eyebrow with a smile.

"It is hard to be a gentleman to someone who says inappropriate things at inappropriate times," Yagyuu fixed his glasses.

"Alright," Nori put her hands up, "I'll take the fall on this one. My bad."

"Yagyuu!" Yanagi called him over. Yagyuu and Nori walked over to him.

"Yes?"

"Can you keep scores for me?" Yanagi passed him a clipboard and a pen.

"Sure," Yagyuu took them, "do you need a break?"

"No," Yanagi took a racket out of his bag, "it's time for my match with Niou."

[]

Courts C and D were finished with the two round of matches, but B was halfway through Yukimura's and Akaya's match. B was the main attraction for fangirls, but A was the obvious attraction for a show. If you couldn't feel the tension in the air, you could most certainly see it on the court. What lacked in fangirls, was made up for by most, if not all, of the boy and girl tennis club members.

"Did someone die?" Suzume walked up and put a hand on the fencing.

"I think someone is about to," Jackal said with a worried expression. Yanagi and Niou were checking their rackets. Once they were done, they walked on the court, almost simultaneously.

"Ready Niou-kun?" Yanagi was bouncing the ball, waiting to serve.

"When you are," Niou hadn't even finished talking when Yanagi had served a speed ball that had gone right past him.

"Anxious, are we?" Niou hummed as his gaze hardened, "pulling out the stops?"

"I'm just ending this match quickly," Yanagi watched the ball he was bouncing up and down, "much like your last prank ended abruptly."

Everyone murmured amongst each other. Niou's last prank? Nori and Sanada exchanged glances. Most people did even know of Niou's last prank. Whispers were rampant through the crowd.

"What was Niou's last prank?" Hana and Suzume looked over at Jackal and Marui. Marui shrugged.

"The last big one I remember was over a month ago," Jackal scratched his head, "he had filled certain lockers with gelatin. It took a good part of a week to clean them out."

"Then what is the data freak talking about?" Makio pointed at Yanagi. Neither Jackal nor Marui had the answer.

"So it's personal," Niou smiled wickedly, "what are you going to do, smite me?" Yanagi stopped bouncing the ball and looked at Niou before he served.

"That's the idea."

Yagyuu was watching the match between Yanagi and Niou from the desk. Luckily, Court B was right next to the board.

So far, Yanagi had taken 4 games, where Niou had only snaked one. Yagyuu knew Yanagi had the upper hand on most of the regulars, but he didn't know it was by leaps and bounds.

"What's going on?" Mayumi walked up to Yagyuu.

"A match between Niou and Yanagi," Yagyuu looked up at her, "and they are getting serious."

"Serious?" Mayumi glanced up at Yagyuu, "Why?" Yagyuu didn't answer her. He knew part of the story, but the rest was all a blur where it concerned Yanagi. Could Yanagi be Nakikora's...?

On the court, Niou was doing everything possible to keep up with Yanagi, but it wasn't enough. He smirked and relaxed. It was time to change tactics. Niou lowered his center of gravity as he returned Yanagi's shots.

"What is he doing?" Suzume leaned in towards the fencing. Yanagi watched him carefully as he ran for the shot. Niou changed the angle of how he hit it, and Yanagi ran after the ball. But instead of it flying towards Yanagi, it shot up straight in the air, much higher than the court fencing.

Yanagi searched the sky for it, but he heard a soft thud behind himself. He turned. The ball was rolling slowly to the fence.

"15-all."

The court went silent as Yanagi stared at the ball. Mayumi's eyes went wide as she walked closer to the fencing.

"What is it?" Yagyuu looked from the court to Mayumi and back.

"Sky bounce," Miyori breathed.

"Sky bounce?" Yagyuu frowned.

"It's an irregular bouncing ball that shoots straight up and lands somewhere unexpected," Mayumi explained, "it's actually a specialty."

"A specialty?"

Mayumi nodded, not taking her eyes off the court, "it's Nakikora's signature move."

Yanagi walked over to the ball and picked it up.

"Where did you learn that?" Yanagi turned to Niou. Niou smirked, but said nothing. He rolled his arm in his socket.

Yanagi raised his eyebrows, but said nothing. He tossed the ball over to Niou. Niou got ready to serve. He hit the shot and the rally began. Niou lowered his center of gravity again and Yanagi became alert. Niou hit at an angle and the ball bounced straight up. Yanagi ran at the ball and took a swing.

The ball hit his racket and went flying into the fence.

"30-15!"

Niou smirked and rolled his arm again.

"What's wrong with him?" Yagyuu asked.

"He's too tall," Miyori shook her head.

"I meant with his arm," Yagyuu said dryly.

"No, he's too tall to use Nakikora's move," Miyori pointed to the court, "it requires Niou to use more power and lower himself in order to get the desired effect. That's why it hurts his arm."

"Nakikora isn't that much shorter than him," Yagyuu shook his head, "does a few inches really make that much of a difference?"

"It does," Miyori nodded, "besides that, Nakikora has to train with weights to hit it correctly." Yagyuu gave her a skeptical look.

"Have you ever arm wrestled her?" Miyori put her hands up, "she can contend with Makio on a good day, and Makio is a power player. But she doesn't use the move often." Yagyuu turned back to the match.

"Then why is Niou using it?" Yagyuu asked, "he could have mimicked anyone."

Yagyuu pondered it. Was Niou trying to make a statement?

"I'm curious, Niou-kun," Yanagi watched as Niou picked up the ball, "where did you learn such a move?" Niou glanced over at Yanagi.

"You never watch the girls play, do you?" Niou hit the ball. Yanagi's demeanor became much colder as he hit the ball back.

"You are really using her move?" he ran across the court, "after all you've done?"

Niou ran to the net and sent the ball back, "I didn't do it for your sake." Yanagi abandoned his racket and grabbed Niou by the collar. There was a collective gasp.

"Yanagi!" Sanada roared and fought through the crowd to the gate.

"If you didn't do it to get to me, then you did it to hurt Nakikora," Yanagi said in a low voice.

"I did not," Niou narrowed his eyes, "I only sent her a message. The one that hurt her was YOU."

"But-"

"You are the one who put her out on the street," Niou told him, raising his voice, "YOU are the one left her without an answer."

"What did you think she would do? Mull it over and talk to you the next day?" Yanagi matched his volume, unabashed.

"YES," Niou took it to another level, "she would have! There would have been tears and crying, but she would have taken it home and come back understanding, this wouldn't be an issue, and it would be over by now!"

"Then why did she tell me?" Yanagi shook him.

Sanada finally made his way into the court.

"Because of him!" Niou pointed at the gate. Sanada froze

"You can thank HIM for this whole mess!" Niou wasn't smiling.

No one moved or said a word. Everyone stood still, confused and in shock.

"What's going on?" Everyone at the gate shrank back to let Yukimura onto the court. He walked up to the situation, passing Sanada. Akaya was standing by the gate. Yukimura stopped feet away from Yanagi and Niou and studied them.

"In my office. All three of you. This match is over."

* * *

No, it actually ends here. Shocking? I suppose so. Ooc? I wish it wasn't...

Thanks for reading anyway. :)


	15. Bedrest

Sooo. New Chapter for you guys (No it didn't end there, that would be a crappy ending). I don't expect to do updates often but I will finish the fic. Sometime in the future. If you have not read this in months (like I had when I picked it up to write) I would going back and reading a few chapters before this. Otherwise it might not make sense

And here is it. Yaaay. :)

* * *

**Chapter 15: Bedrest**

Sayuri sat on the bench next her senpai. Nakikora was still fighting her sickness and it was clear as day. Sweat clung to her pale figure just as her jersey did. Her hair was sticking to her face as she failed to regain her breath. Sayuri had insisted that Nakikora should rest rather than work with her today, but Nakikora hadn't listened.

"Senpai," Sayuri was worried in earnest.

"I'll be fine," Nakikora gave a small cough, "just let me rest for a minute." Sayuri was itching to get up and go make Yamamoto-bucho stop her from going on.

Sayuri put a hand on Nakikora, "please just watch me train today. I need someone to critique my form." Nakikora let out a small sigh. Sayuri could feel her shiver slightly.

"Alright, I-"

"Hey Nakikora-chan," two girls approached her. Sayuri felt her heart sink. She had almost gotten Nakikora-senpai to sit out. Almost. The two girls were smirking too much for Sayuri to be comfortable.

"We know Yamamoto-senpai has a policy about selecting regulars, but seeing you in this condition seems... unfair," the first girl addressed the regular in a much too casual tone. Her friend giggled. Nakikora hadn't responded.

"I think we could beat you and Nakamura-san without any troubles at all," she continued in a louder voice. Sayuri looked around. The loud talk was attracting the attention of the other girls on different courts.

"What's happening?" Makio glanced over her shoulder. Two girls were 'chatting up' Nakikora as far as she could see. Nori, who was on the other side of the court, grimaced.

"Rebellion is happening, that's what," Nori beat her racket against her hand. Hana and Suzume had also stopped playing the pair of girls they had been working with. Mayumi stopped her serve mid-way.

Something important was happening on Nakikora's court.

"So you could beat Doubles 1?" Nakikora studied the girl's expression, "what about Doubles 2, could you beat them?"

"That's not the point," the girl snapped, "you are in a weak condition and somehow you are just going to magically beat the teams in the district matches?" Nakikora remained silent.

"I would challenge you and Nakamura-san for your positions," the girl pointed her racket at Nakikora, "but our bucho does not believe in the challenge system."

"That's true," Nakikora agreed, "but she is fair." The girl sneered.

"Fair for who?"

Nakikora narrowed her eyes, "what exactly do you want me to do?"

"Why don't we have a little doubles match," the girls grin widened, "our makeshift pair against Doubles 1." Nakikora looked over at the girl's partner.

"Does makeshift now mean 'plays Doubles 2 every other week'?" Nakikora asked quietly. The partner flinched, but the first girl remained unaffected.

"Can you prove it?" the girl crossed her arms. Sayuri felt like she was drowning. This was such a sticky situation, that she couldn't say anything without getting hurt.

"Alright, I'll play your _makeshift_ pair," Nakikora let her head sink almost in between her knees. The two girls looked pleased with themselves. She had fallen for their trick.

"But I'll play with a makeshift pair so that the playing field is even," Nakikora's head rose, revealing a feral grin. The girls flinched.

"T-that's not part of the deal!"

"Was there ever a deal?" Nakikora stood up. The girl bit her lip.

"Fine. Who's your partner?" the girl looked slightly disgruntled.

"Ribbon-chan," Nakikora pointed at Sayuri. She blinked.

"Me?"

The girl looked amused, "alright, we'll play you and your kouhai. Let's just see what kind of pair this will be." The two walked off to warm up. Sayuri still hadn't registered that she was about to play doubles.

Nakikora put a hand on her shoulder. Sayuri looked up at Nakikora, her confusion still apparent. Nakikora offered a sad smile.

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this, but I wasn't going to put pressure of losing Doubles 1 on Mayumi," Nakikora had to sit back down, "she just got out of the hospital not even less than a week and she has been training so hard."

"Senpai," Sayuri looked down at Nakikora tentatively, "why did you pick me?"

"Because Ribbon-chan," Nakikora grinned widely, "this is your debut!" Sayuri did her best to not stare at Nakikora as if she were crazy. Her DEBUT? Fever must be getting to her head.

"Na... Nakikora-senpai."

[]

"Se... Seiichi," Sanada stared down at the track, "is this okay?" Yukimura and Sanada stood atop a hill where they observed the track. The entire team had been assigned 75 laps for the morning except for two people. Yanagi and Niou were running somewhere in the 'decent' section of players while losing large amounts of sweat.

It was highly irregular that two of the best only doing half as good as they usually do, but that was because they were both wearing body suits of weights.

Yukimura had drilled the two for the reason why they had acted out during the tournament but they were both stone silent. Neither said a word and neither looked at each other. Because their battle had been stopped, they were in a cold war.

Yukimura knew he should have seen this coming. In his mind, the eariler tension had been apparent and because he had not acted, Niou and Yanagi had chosen not to excert self-control.

He had told them this when giving them a thorough lashing with words and neither responed with more than shifting in their seats and a noncomittal grunt.

So he decided to fix the problem.

Instead of 75 laps, Yukimura had given them 120 laps on the condition that if they did not finish them sometime this morning, they would be dropped from the regulars.

Permanently.

"As far as I can see," Yukimura stared a cold eye down at the track, "everything is fine."

Sanada felt a cold chill come over him. He shivered and pulled his hat a little lower. Anyone who thought Yukimura was scary as an opponent didn't really know.

He was much scarier as a captain dealing out punishments.

[]

"Senpai," Sayuri picked at the strings of her racket, "we've never played doubles before."

"But you know my style inside and out," Nakikora wiped her face with a damp towel and covered her head with it, "doubles is about teamwork, no?"

"But... but your condition!" Sayuri couldn't believe her senpai was about to go through with this. Nakikora smiled from under the towel.

"My condition is second to this situation," Nakikora took the towel of her head, "this is about something much bigger than me." She looked up at her captain.

Nori was watching as the two pairs prepared to play.

"Why did Nakikora choose Sayuri over Mayumi?" Hana asked Nori. Mayumi was sitting a row below them, seeming not to hear them.

"To keep the pressure off of May-chan!" Suzume nudged Mayumi playfully.

"Yes and no," Nori watched warm up commence.

Makio sat back on the bleacher, "the girl who was provoking Nakikora had thought this through. It's true Nori doesn't use the 'I beat you' system, but if that pair had beat our Doubles 1, it would look like Nori really is playing favorites."

"But they couldn't beat-" Hana started.

"Right now Nakikora is a liability and she knows it," Nori cut her to the chase, "she has another day to recover and this is only districts so it's fine."

"But what does it matter if she beat the Doubles 1?" Suzume glanced up at her captain, "it wouldn't change anything."

"It would change the amount of respect Nori got from the rest of the team," Makio answered, "and if she wanted to keep the girls from talking she would have to give them a doubles slot."

"I get it!" Hana realized, "because those girls are playing a makeshift pair of Sayuri and Nakikora you would probably only have to give up Nakikora's spot and the empty slot. If Nakikora lost her spot, after getting better she could crush the girl and get it back."

Nori nodded, "but I don't believe it will come to that."

"But if you don't think Nakikora and Mayumi could win, how do you expect her do to that with Sayuri?" Suzume continued.

"Have you ever seen Sayuri practice?" Nori hid a smile, "I think this will be enlightening for you."

Sayuri stepped up to the baseline.

"I'll be frank with you, Ribbon-chan," Nakikora was already sweating again, "I can't last forever, so this might be a lot of work for you."

"I understand," Sayuri nodded. Her senpai was depending on her. "I suppose you want me end it quickly?" Nakikora grinned.

"I wouldn't expect any less."

Sayuri got ready to serve.

"When you are ready," she called out to the players.

"Alright," the girl crouched in position, thinking about how easy this was going to be. The ball went whizzing past her face. The girl tried to hide her shock as the ball crashed into the fence.

"15-0."

"That was a nasty serve to start with," Hana leaned in to get a better view of the game.

Makio grinned, "This match is going to be quick."

[]

"Game and Match, Sayuri/Nakikora 6-0!"

The girl fell to her knees as the realization of losing sank in.

"No, we couldn't have lost," she mumbled, "Nakikora, we should have beat her!"

"Maybe in singles," Nakikora stood up, "but you didn't have the guts to play me in singles. Instead you chose the chicken route and played me at doubles, and rightly, you were beaten by Sayuri!" The girl was dumbfounded. Her partner tried to pull her up but the girl remained obstinate. The girl beat her fists on the court. _It was unfair! Why? Why?_

"Pffft, like a little kid," Nakikora tsked, "I would have kicked your butt, Ribbon-chan, if you had let her beat you."

"Please, senpai," Sayuri went over to help Nakikora off the courts, "I didn't do much."

"You underestimate yourself," Nakikora chuckled, drops of sweat flinging themselves off of her, "I did almost nothing in that match. You held them off and took the match with your own to hands."

"Please, Nakikora-senpai, don't talk, just rest!" Sayuri tried hide the pleased blush that appeared on her face.

Yamamoto stood up as Ribbon-chan fretted over Nakikora. All of the regulars ran down to congradulate them, except Makio and Nori. Suzume gave Sayuri a bear huge while Hana grinned down at Nakikora. Mayumi just simply smiled.

"What are you thinking?" Makio watched her friend carefully. Nori's eyes were still trained on Sayuri. Hana gave Nakikora an overly rough slap on the back. Nakikora lost balance and steadied herself with the bench. She glared up at the girl and chucked a water bottle at Hana's head.

"I think we just found our last regular."

[]

"Kiko-chan, you did a good job," Mayumi gave a beaming smile. It made her feel good knowing her best friend was looking out for her. Mayumi just couldn't contain the feeling.

"It's... nothing," Nakikora wiped more sweat off her brow. She stared at the droplets in her hand. She should have stopped sweating by now.

"No, no, you thought of me and you also let Ribbon-chan display her abilities," Mayumi was getting excited, "you're a sugoi friend and senpai!"

"No... you're exaggerating," Mayumi's figure was now swimming in front of her.

_I need... to sit down._

"Yagyuu!" Mayumi caught sight of the gentleman, "Yagyuu! Over here! Listen to what Nakikora did!" Yagyuu ventured over to them.

"Really... she's over exaggerating," Nakikora tried to blink the black dots out of her eyes. Mayumi began to tell Yagyuu the story in earnest, and Yagyuu, slightly overwhelmed at Mayumi in such a mood, listened intently.

_No Mayumi_, Nakikora thought as the ground rushed up to meet her. She faintly heard Mayumi scream her name. _It was all Ribbon-chan._

[]

Yukimura walked into the morning extra period pale as a ghost.

"Really, you look like the one who did the body suit laps instead of me," Yanagi made little effort to hide his bitterness. Even after a long shower, Yanagi was still sweating from such rigorous workout.

"No, you deserved it," Yukimura replied with no conviction. Sanada and Yanagi exchanged glances.

"What's wrong Seiichi?" Sanada asked cautiously.

"Nothing," he smiled an icy smile that told him to drop the subject. So he did.

"The tournament finishes today, right?" Sanada cleared his throat.

Yukimura nodded, "and perhaps we will gain the addition of Kirihara to our ranks."

"Considering all he has to do is defeat Tetsuyama," Yanagi nodded, "and he has a 76% chance of doing so."

They continued with more unimportant conversation until the period ended. They left together and chatted until Nori approached them. Sanada was surprised to see her, but Yukimura reverted back to the serious self.

"I have a favor to ask of you later," she muttered. Yukimura nodded.

"And how is she?" he inquired soberly.

"Lively enough to demand to be let to class," Nori shook her head, "though she'll probably fall asleep soon, she's so exhausted."

"Is Nakamura-san having setbacks?" Yanagi inquired.

"What? Mayumi is fine," Nori gave Yanagi the once over.

"Then who exactly are you talking about?" Sanada inquired. Nori raised her eyebrows but did not answer. Sanada opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. It couldn't have been... Nakikora... could it?

"Let's talk," Yukimura guided Nori away.

"Why do I get the feeling we are missing something?" Renji watched the two walk away. Sanada's eyes followed them as well. Sanada knew for a fact that Renji was, in fact, missing something, but Sanada understood.

He understood only too well.

[]

Niou couldn't decide whether to stare at Yagyuu or at Mayumi. Both had been acting strangely since they had entered class and neither of them seemed to want to say anything. He had considered throwing something at Yagyuu or even at Mayumi, but he seriously wondered if it wouldn't just bounce off them. They were in a comatose state of unresponsiveness.

"What, did you two have your first make-out session or something?"

This statement seemed to wake them up from their stupor, but it didn't make Yagyuu push up his glasses or even make Mayumi blush. Something was wrong.

"Ah... no," Mayumi answered quietly, "no, not really."

"Then who died?"

"No-no one," the word 'die' seemed to shake Mayumi up.

"It's nothing for you to worry about, Niou-kun," Yagyuu turned a page of the book that had been opened to the same page for 10 minutes, "useless fretting is what it is."

"Then why are you worrying about it?" Niou's eyes were scanning Yagyuu for even the smallest slip.

"Like I said, Niou-kun," Yagyuu had his full guard up, "nothing for you to worry about."

Niou sat back and observed the two. It was painfully obvious that whatever 'it' was, was very important and that it was even more important that he (Niou) did not know about it.

That pushed the question.

What was he not supposed to know?

[]

"I don't remember this many people sitting at our table," Sanada remarked. Yukimura had asked Nori, Mayumi, and Yagyuu to come but somehow Niou had tagged along and Makio appeared somewhere in the mix.

"I asked some of them here," Yukimura gazed at the guests, "but it seems others come on their own accord."

"There are too many people at this table," Yanagi said flatly.

It didn't help that Niou was sitting across from Yanagi.

"Maybe I'll leave," Niou said casually.

"I think you should," Yanagi sat back in his chair.

"We could talk about things you should and shouldn't do," Makio cut them off, "and neither of you would have room to talk."

The two of them went silent.

"Since these two seem to have no inclination to leave when they're not wanted, I asked Makio to babysit them," Nori sighed.

"You what?" Niou narrowed his eyes.

"You heard her, puffy," Makio sat in a chair in between them, "I'm your sitter. Play nice and maybe you'll get a lollipop."

"Puffy?" Nori muttered under her breath.

"His hair looks like a cotton ball," Makio shrugged. Nori truly wondered what went through Makio's head.

"I'm going to go since we really can't talk," Mayumi stood.

"I'll accompany her," Yagyuu followed her out the exit of the cafeteria.

"I take this as my leave," Niou slid out of his chair but was stopped by a hand.

"Sit down," Makio had grabbed Niou, "you two decided to stay, so we're staying. Anything funny and I'll assign you laps."

"You can't-"

"10 laps."

"That is quite ridic-" Yanagi put in.

"20 laps."

"Whatever punishments she comes up with I will completely support," Yukimura smiled brightly.

"No... Seiichi," Sanada had to look away, "that's too much."

Nori stood, "care to join me, Yukimura-san?"

"Certainly," they exited the cafeteria from the other door.

"Where are they going?" Yanagi asked Makio.

"How should I know?" Makio sat at the ready.

"Well if you were sent to babysit us shouldn't you know where they are going out?"

"You're taking this 'babysitting' thing lying down?" Niou sniffed.

"It doesn't matter what it's called when you're stuck where you are," Yanagi said coldly.

"Would it offend you if I put them on leashes?" Makio directed the question to Sanada.

"Offend me? No. Disturb me? Yes," Sanada had an unreadable expression.

"How do you feel about slapping?" Makio asked.

"You're asking Sargent Backhand if he likes slapping?" Niou snickered. Makio nicked him in the side of the head.

"Thank you for answering me," Makio smiled sweetly.

_Demon_, Yanagi thought, _she's a demon._

"Are they going where I think they're going?" Sanada asked carefully.

"Where do you think they're going?" Makio turned to the vice-captain. Sanada paused.

"The school infirmary," Sanada said uncomfortably. Makio stared at him. He took the stare as a yes.

"Is someone sick?" Yanagi inquired.

"Is it any of your business, noisy?" Makio replied shortly.

"So it's important," Niou reasoned.

"Of course it's important, the amount of work they are putting into this is showing," Yanagi reasoned.

"I can see that, data freak," Niou said loudly, "I'm not-"

"'I'm not blind' is what you were going to say," Yanagi cut him short, "and that's up for debate."

"We could debate about changing your awful haircut, but then nothing could be done about your ugly face," Niou sneered.

"Personally I'm fine with lacking exterior," Yanagi was unphased, "as long as I'm not as mentally unstable as some of us, I think I'll be fine."

Both of them were promptly whacked in the head.

"Again?!" Niou turned to Makio. She shrugged casually.

"I didn't do it," she pointed a thumb at the towering figure behind her shoulder.

"You two are sounding like a pair of babies," Sanada fixed his tie, "I felt sorry for you because of Yukimura's punishment, but now I hope he runs you into the ground." He promptly left the cafeteria.

"That guy is your friend?" Niou raised an eyebrow, pointing to the retreating figure.

"I never said he was reasonable," Yanagi watched him leave.

"You two are being unreasonable," Makio snorted.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you two are childish little babies who need to grow up," Makio sat back in her chair.

"Here we go," Niou sat back in his chair.

"What, you think I'm going to lecture you?" Makio grinned, "I'm not an old granny like Nori. Either you take my words and do something or simply stay the same."

The two looked at each other.

"Common goal," Niou stretched his arms but seemed to point at Makio. Yanagi shifted in his chair. He supposed they could fight once more once they were alleviated of further distraction.

"So about the infirmary," Yanagi started. Makio went silent with a glare.

"We'll give you 'til the count of 3," Niou told her. She was unimpressed.

"Or what?"

"We will give you a _run_ for your money," Niou gave Yanagi a meaningful glance. He returned it with a small nod.

"One," Niou started.

"Two," Yanagi included.

"Three!" they said at the same time and ran for opposite exits. Makio made to grab them, but they were too fast.

They both sped in their respective directions and raced down the stairs to the first floor infirmary.

"We lost her," Niou puffed as they met up in front of the infirmary.

"She'll be here in about 1.2 min," Yanagi checked the time, "we have to figure out what was so important that we couldn't know."

"Are you sure you're okay, Kiko-chan?" Mayumi's voice penetrated the door. Both Niou and Yanagi froze.

"Did you know Nakikora was at school?" Yanagi whispered heatedly.

"I thought she was still crying over you," Niou hissed.

"We can argue this later," Yanagi waved him to shut up.

"It's fine," a thin voice coughed, "I overexerted myself." The two looked at each other. Was that really Nakikora? The sound was so feeble, it couldn't have possibly been the hazel eyed girl.

"Now, since I'm already at school, can I go to class?" it sounded like Nakikora was trying to get up.

"Why don't you rest and see how you feel this afternoon," Yagyuu was probably pushing her down.

"How 'bout I just go now and you and Mayumi can sort your feelings out," Nakikora had no problem delivering a low blow.

"That's Nakikora," Niou confirmed.

"You should rest," Mayumi said firmly.

"I think you two have heard enough," an angry voice said from behind them.

"I thought you said 1.2 minutes," Niou glared at Yanagi.

"You obviously don't know how fast I am," Makio grabbed the two by their collars, "making your senpai run after you, of all things."

"So they found out," Nori opened the door of the infirmary and closed it behind herself, "I expected as much."

"It was partially my fault," Makio admitted.

"Why couldn't we know earlier?" Yanagi asked.

"Because it was NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS," Makio shook the two by their collars.

"You are surprisingly strong, Aoki-san," Yanagi commented, "but I would appreciate not being drug around like a _dog_." He pulled her hand off himself decisively.

"Now that you know, what are you going to do?" Nori watched them with a careful eye.

"Well if she's sick I want to see her," Niou said assertively. Yanagi reluctantly agreed.

"You can't," Nori said simply.

"Why not? We have just as much right as anyone," Niou argued.

"Just as much a right?! Are you kidding?!" Makio was livid.

"Makio, calm down," Nori's voice was urgent, "this is neither the time nor the place." Makio growled and let go of Niou's collar. She paced the floor, still not completely sold on keeping her mouth shut.

"It is all I have to say," Nori said firmly, "you don't get to see her."

"Is there a specific reason?" Yanagi pressed, "you can't just say 'no' without a reason."

"You two have been at each other's throats all day, that's more than enough reason," Nori stood stock still in front of the doorway.

"One has nothing to do with the other," Niou pointed out.

"Keh," Makio wore a manic grin, now at the point of not caring, "Nori you should quit fooling around with them and just tell them the reason."

"Makio," Nori said in a warning tone, not liking where this conversation was going.

"No, I want these two to hear," Makio was on a warpath now, "you want to know why you can't go see Nakikora? It's because she doesn't want to see you."

The world stopped turning for a split second.

"What?"

"You heard me," Makio advanced, "she said specifically that she did not want to see you two. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't want to see you until after districts are over."

"Doesn't want to see us?" Yanagi was not sure he heard clearly.

"Please, it's not that hard to believe," Makio rolled her eyes, "the reason she got sick was-"

"Makio that's enough," Nori ordered, "you've crossed the line." Makio went quiet. Nori pinched the bridge of her nose until she let out another sigh.

"Now that you've been given a reason, do you mind leaving?"

Yanagi was stone cold. He had been on the verge of coming to a decision, but it seemed Sanada had been right. He had waited too long. Nakikora must have made her own decision. Yanagi considered the decision he had once faced an overwhelming burden, but now the reality of it being gone just hung in the pit of his stomach. He had lost the control. Had he taken it for granted.

"I have no qualms," he turned and walked down the hallway. Niou opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it.

"... for now," Niou slunk off the opposite direction. Nori and Makio made no moves until all sounds down the hallways ceased.

"That was cruel, even for you," Nori gave Makio a reproachful glance, "making up a lie about Nakikora not wanting to see them."

"You are the one who said she needed to focus on tennis for a while," Makio shrugged, "I thought I was doing her a favor."

"Do you think they'll try to visit her?" Nori looked both ways down the hallway.

"At this point? Nah," Makio stretched her arms, "is everyone in there?" Nori nodded.

"Even Gen-chan?" Makio couldn't contain the gleeful grin.

"Yes, even Sanada," Nori rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"Well," Makio rolled her shoulder, "it's too crowded. Are you still sending her out this afternoon?"

"Yeah," Nori nodded, "even though she probably wouldn't be challenged to a running contest, I don't want to wear her out."

"Will she be well by then?" Makio popped her neck. Nori frowned.

"I hope so."

[]

"Finish up the tournament today," Yukimura announced, "if you got dropped, 20 laps. The rest of you have those 50 if you did not finish them."

"Who is that?" Kirihara pointed to the bench. The first year had asked the question everyone had wanted to know the answer to. A small figure wearing a girl's Rikkaidai tennis uniform sat with the hood of her jacket pulled up.

"Yamamoto-san entrusted one of her more... unruly players to me," Yukimura had a cold smile, "please do not talk to her or you will be getting a punishment worse than hers."

"Death," Kirihara turned away, gripping his heart, "it will be death."

"You are dismissed," Yukimura clapped his hands together. Everyone was only too happy to go to their respective places.

"Yukimura," Sanada sidled up to his friend, "what is she really here for?"

"Whaaat? You don't believe I'm going to hand out punishment? fu fu," Yukimura's grin made Sanada sweatdrop.

"Not really. I've seen your cold expression all day," Sanada tugged his hat a little lower, "this one isn't as scary."

"By how much?"

Sanada held up a pinch.

"Well that's pleasant to know," Yukimura smiled brightly.

"I... guess," Sanada felt slightly unnerved, "but... the real reason?"

"Ah yes," Yukimura nodded, "tell her to do 15 laps at her leisure and to enjoy the rest of the tournament."

Sanada frowned in confusion. Yukimura simply smiled his icy smile once more.

"I might have to stop being around you if you continue this," Sanada resisted the urge to tug his hat even lower.

"Sorry, sorry," Yukimura laughed, "if you go tell her, you'll understand." Sanada simply stared and walked over to the girl.

"Yukimura wanted me to tell you that *ahem* you have 15 laps and can watch the matches if you want," Sanada addressed her.

"Ah, thank you," the girl peeked out of her hood.

"Suzuki-san?" Sanada stared at her. Nakikora pulled her hood a little bit lower and shushed him.

"I'm not supposed to be here," Nakikora said quietly, "at least, no one is supposed to know where I am."

"So you've come to work out around the guys you banned from visiting you?" Sanada asked quietly. After lunch he had found Yanagi in a less than normal state. It had been quite nerve racking that he had responded to the question 'what's wrong?' so quickly and honestly. The fact that Yanagi was functioning at a semi-normal level in practice was beyond his comprehension.

Nakikora gave him a quizzical look.

"I suppose it doesn't matter to you," Sanada said gruffly, "what happened that landed you in the infirmary?"

"I overdid it in practice," she scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "That's why Nori-bucho put me in pseudo practice."

"How did it happen?" Sanada asked her.

"Doubles match," Nakikora began stretching her legs, "it's actually a long story, but I have a feeling someone will fill you in later."

Sanada made no indication to how he felt about the comment.

"I'm going to go, Sanada-san," Nakikora pointed to the dirt path to run around the courts. Sanada nodded and walked off. He began to observe the last few games but was being waved over to the scoring table by Yanagi.

"Do you need me to cover for you?" Sanada asked him.

"No, I was just curious as to why Yamamoto Nori would leave a player in the care of Seiichi," Yanagi glanced over Sanada's shoulder as the hooded girl began her run.

"Am I supposed to be Yamamoto-san's mind reader?" Sanada did not see where this question was going.

"I don't think you could read minds," Yanagi chuckled, "you don't have the capaticty to even guess."

Sanada raised an eyebrow, "I don't know how to take that."

"However you'd like to," Yanagi chided, "but frankly speaking, you know who she is, right?"

"Am I the only one that heard Yukimura's 'don't mess with my prisioner' speech?" Sanada pointed at their captain, who was currently watching Kirihara's match with Tetsuyama.

"I am not one to make false assumtions," Yanagi's former humor replaced with seriousness, "and I'm not incorrect in thinking you know her identity, so really, who is she?"

"Why is this important to you?" Sanada narrowed his eyes, "are you expecting someone?"

"No I-"

"No, you are being self important again," Sanada sounded angry, "if you truly want to know march up to her and ask the girl herself who she is." He marched off in a fit of rage. Yanagi was slightly confused. Sanada shouldn't have blown up over this, should he?

Sanada let out a low sigh as he reached a court. He was playing dangerous games today, practically lying to the Data Master. Sanada shook his head, no that wasn't right. He wasn't _practically_ lying to Yanagi, he was.

[]

Yukimura's eyes widened as he watched the games final point.

"Game and Match Tetsuyama, 7 games to 5."

Kirihara felt into a sitting position staring up at the sky, panting. He had lost. He had lost the match.

"Kirihara-kun," Tetsuyama walked into his line of sight. He was just a worn as Kirihara was. He offered a hand.

"You beat me," Kirihara accepted the hand up, though Akaya still hadn't fully accepted the statement himself.

"Not really," Tetsuyama smiled, "because I know how much training you will be putting in to slaughter me."

"Is that so?" Kirihara picked up his racket.

"And even though I'll be benched because the younger players are better, I will still be able to say I was part of the Rikkai regulars," Tetsuyama stretched his arms, "and then I will be no more."

"Why do you say that?" Kirihara asked. Tetsuyama had not stopped smiling ever since he won.

"Have you ever wanted to battle with monsters with greater powers than your own?" Tetsuayama asked him. Akaya knew exactly what he meant. He could think of three off the top of his head.

"Because I know once you climb out of your small slump I will never be able to beat you again," he began walking to his bag, "the odds are against me."

"Odds?" Kirihara frowned. He thought he had understood, but now his compreshension had flown the coop.

Yukimura happened to be watching from the part of the fence near Tetsuyama's. Neither were looking at each other.

"I apologize for screwing up your perfect line," Tetsuyama unzipped his bag, "though I'm sure Kirihara-kun will pull through."

"Just how long were you going to hide the extent of your talents?" Yukimura asked quietly.

"As long as it took to surpass your favorite Kouhai," Tetsuyama slipped his racket right in, "it took quite the effort, mind you."

"As long as it took," Yukimura repeated. Tetsuyama nodded.

"How long did it take?"

Tetsuyama finally looked up at Yukimura, "does it matter?" Yukimura sighed with a sad smile. He knew what that meant. It had not taken month or weeks of practice to catch up with Rikkaidai's ace.

It probably had taken years.

"I suppose not."

Tetsuyama's smile had remained, but now it was stale and overused, "20 laps, right?" Yukimura nodded. He walked out of the fencing and began his laps.

Yukimura walked up to Kirihara, who was still standing on the court.

"Alright Akaya?" Yukimura touched his shoulder. Kirihara nodded, not completely in the conversation.

"I will be fine," he replied, lost in thought. Losing wasn't a foreign concept to him. Albiet it wasn't pleasant either. Yukimura sighed once more.

"You know," Akaya finally snapped out of it, "I feel bad for the guy." Yukimura was surprised at this statement.

"Why is that?"

"He's never been invited one of the extra practices, has he?" Kirihara reasoned, "and he was a regular too." He had gained a new admiration for the 3rd year, working as hard as he had, and had beaten Kirihara. This feeling also came with some sympathy.

"Yes," this thought now troubled Yukimura. They really hadn't welcomed him, had they?

Akaya put away his racket and went to run his laps.

"Mura-bucho," Kirihara called to Yukimura. He nodded in response.

"I want to beat him playing all out," he grinned, "because I know I wouldn't want to be beaten any other way than that." A faint smile appeared on Yukimura's lips as he began to think about plans for the third year.

"He shouldn't expect any less."

* * *

Tetsuyama gets some love! I felt he was underdeveloped as a player (considering he was on the regulars) so I adjusted. Sayoko (aka Ribbon-chan aka Secret Admirer) also gets love! And a regular spot. She is probably on the lower end of the regulars but considering the gap between the regulars and the rest of the team that's pretty good.

The fact she trains with Nakikora probably has something to do with it.

Reviews! I haven't written in forever and I want to know what you think of the quality of the story, writing style, humor, anything. I am always welcome to constructive critique.

As always, thanks for reading :)


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